'Green Pea' galaxies spotted

Posted: Monday, July 27, 2009 5:50 PM by Alan Boyle

Carolin Cardamone and Sloan Digital Sky Survey

A "Green Pea" galaxy, at left, isn't like the typical galaxy at right.

Galaxy Zoo's legions of mouse-clicking citizen astronomers have chalked up another discovery: "Green Pea" galaxies that look more like garden vegetables than the traditional spiral galaxies we all know and love. Read more about the research, to be published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, in this announcement from Yale University posted to the EurekAlert Web site.

I'm out of the office today, putting the finishing touches on "The Case for Pluto" and dealing with other matters, but here's more must-see science to peruse while I'm semi-gone:

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Comments

Peas, Sir. May I have some more? I have not seen any explanation for the color. Any theories?

New Scientist: Gravitationally round, orbiting a star, not another planet. Why do the twits try to make it more difficult than it has to be? Occam's Razor. And where is it written that there is a sacred number of planets, anyway? We passed the Greeks with Uranus and Neptune, much less Pluto.

Wade Whitlock, Aberdeen, MD (Sent Tuesday, July 28, 2009 10:32 AM)

I wonder if there are any indications as to answer of the usual questions: star type, size of star, distance from here, number of possible planets and how long ago are we seeing these images.

S.B. Stein E.B. NJ (Sent Tuesday, July 28, 2009 1:51 PM)

S.B. Stein, an article that better explains the new discovery can be found here: http://www.physorg.com/news167921680.html . These objects are galaxies that are compact in size and found to be vigorously forming stars. The types of stars formed appear to be young (duh)blue stars embedded in a nebulous cloud that radiates strongly in the blue-green region of the visible spectrum. These Luminous Blue Compact Galaxies are found at distances of 1.5 to 5 billion light-years from Earth, far outside of our own Milky Way galaxy, hence too far away to detect individual stars or planets orbiting them.

Jon Hanford, Tampa, FL (Sent Wednesday, July 29, 2009 11:49 AM)

The color is from how they looked (green) to you and I. What caused the color is a lot of highly ionized Oxygen or OIII as you'd see on a spectrum chart of the pea galaxy. The Oxygen atoms have lost 3 electrons. That's why it has the "III" after the O for oxygen. They are small and looked pea shaped. We, Galaxyzoo people, then had our normal fun on the forums and came up with "green peas."

Mark O'Connell, Crystal Rriver, Fl. (Sent Wednesday, July 29, 2009 1:39 PM)

The colour comes from the redshifted 5007 angstrom line of [OIII] which is a forbidden line from doubly ionised oxygen. Mark is almost right, but OI is not ionised, OII ionised, OIII has lost 2 electrons etc.

Wimborne (Sent Wednesday, July 29, 2009 2:48 PM)

Green Pea galaxies? What's next, hominy nebulae?
We need peas and hominy here on earth!

Gilbert Nelson (Sent Thursday, July 30, 2009 12:21 AM)

Doesn't argon gas turn green, when electrically cherged? Perhaps the "Green Pea" galaxies are huge masses of argon that have acquired an electrical charge. Veeerrry interesting! I love the vast enigma that is our Universe.

Tom Burnside, Denison, Texas (Sent Thursday, July 30, 2009 5:51 PM)

pea soup good catch ..send a bod that way too

the rock (Sent Friday, July 31, 2009 2:37 AM)

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