(http://www.space.com/images/i/000/057/110/original/meerkatimage1.png?interpolation=lanczos-none&fit=inside%7C660:*)
The first photograph by 16 dishes in the MeerKAT radio telescope array revealed over 1,300 galaxies, only 70 of which were previously known. The array will include 64 dishes when it is complete.
Credit: SKA/MeerKAT
The first time the MeerKAT telescope turned its eyes to the sky, it saw more than 1,200 previously unknown galaxies.
Located in South Africa, MeerKAT announced its first galactic harvest on July 16. The first snapshot taken by the radio telescope shows more than 1,300 galaxies in a patch of universe where only 70 were previously known.
That's according to a statement from the Square Kilometer Array (SKA), a massive radio telescope network, which, if all goes according to plan, will be the largest radio telescope in the world, with 1 square kilometer (3,280 feet) of collecting area.
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A zoomed-in view of the MeerKAT first light image shows 10 percent of the original picture, and includes more than 200 radio sources. Previously, only five radio sources were known in this square of sky (those objects are circled).
Credit: SKA/MeerKAT
The impressive new image from MeerKAT captures less than 0.01 percent of the sky, and was taken using only one-fourth the number of radio dishes that will eventually make up the MeerKAT array. By 2017, 64 of MeerKAT's 13.5-meter diameter (44.3 feet) dish antennae are expected to be operating, the statement said. Only 16 are currently operating.
Early analysis of the first image has revealed that some of the galaxies spotted by MeerKAT clearly have supermassive black holes at their centers. The image captured at least one Fanaroff-Riley Class 2 (FR2) object, according to the statement, which is a massive black hole with gas and dust falling onto it. The black hole then spews some of the material back into space in the form of jets that emit radio waves. The particles in the jets move at close to the speed of light.
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The four insets show zoomed in sections of the MeerKAT first light image. The two panels to the right show distant galaxies with massive black holes at their centers.
Credit: SKA/MeerKAT
The SKA radio telescope network will use radio telescopes in South Africa and Australia to effectively create a single, large telescope with increased resolution and power. Currently, the largest radio telescope in the world is the Aricebo telescope in Puerto Rico, with a diameter of 305 meters (1,000 feet). Meanwhile, construction was just completed on the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) in China, which will have an observing diameter of nearly 500 meters (1,640 feet).
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This image shows about 1 percent of the full MeerKAT image, which contains a Fanaroff-Riley Class 2 (FR2) object: A massive black hole in the distant universe, with gas and dust falling onto it. The black hole spews some of the material back into space in the form of jets that emit radio waves.
Credit: SKA/MeerKAT
http://www.space.com/33565-meerkat-radio-telescope-first-light-new-galaxies.html (http://www.space.com/33565-meerkat-radio-telescope-first-light-new-galaxies.html)
So let's see... if 'The new image from MeerKAT captures less than 0.01 percent of the sky' and is finding 1,300 galaxies in that patch of universe, and is currently running at 1/4 resolution, we might expect to find 52,000,000 galaxies in our observable part of the universe alone!
Let alone if we consider that our universe is expanding (at an ever increasing rate) from a central point outwards, all that is observable to us, is the photons heading outwards in our direction.
What about the photons not heading our direction?
How many galaxies can we then add to the list?
And will future advances in tech be even higher resolution allowing us to detect even fainter light, and up the number even more?
I think if we base that answer on past successes we can say yes.
And what of areas of Nebula? How high can we expect the count to go then?
QuoteThe black hole spews some of the material back into space in the form of jets that emit radio waves.
eh what ? how does material escape from a blackhole? I can see how waves might be generated by the intense activity in its local region , but how does material escape the event horizon ?
something contrary lurks with these 'jets', is there anymore explanation
funbox
"Material, such as gas, dust and other stellar debris that has come close to a black hole but not quite fallen into it, forms a flattened band of spinning matter around the event horizon called the accretion disk (or disc).
Although no-one has ever actually seen a black hole or even its event horizon, this accretion disk can be seen, because the spinning particles are accelerated to tremendous speeds by the huge gravity of the black hole, releasing heat and powerful x-rays and gamma rays out into the universe as they smash into each other."
http://www.physicsoftheuniverse.com/topics_blackholes_event.html (http://www.physicsoftheuniverse.com/topics_blackholes_event.html)
Quote from: A51Watcher on August 07, 2016, 01:56:06 AM
"Material, such as gas, dust and other stellar debris that has come close to a black hole but not quite fallen into it, forms a flattened band of spinning matter around the event horizon called the accretion disk (or disc).
Although no-one has ever actually seen a black hole or even its event horizon, this accretion disk can be seen, because the spinning particles are accelerated to tremendous speeds by the huge gravity of the black hole, releasing heat and powerful x-rays and gamma rays out into the universe as they smash into each other."
http://www.physicsoftheuniverse.com/topics_blackholes_event.html (http://www.physicsoftheuniverse.com/topics_blackholes_event.html)
ah ok, so its caused by objects colliding around it ..local environmental signatures being detected ,
thanks for the linkage
funbox