Astronomical brain frying

[Logitech105]

Ok, random quick question of the day. I'm trying to figure this out, math is not, my specialty...

From the Hubblesite, the irregular galaxy (NGC 1427A) is hurtling towards the the constellation Fornax at 400 miles per second. Then it says, "Within the next billion years, it will be completely disrupted, spilling its stars and remaining gas into intergalactic space within the Fornax cluster." So lets say 1 billion years. So how would you convert 400 mps against 1 billion yrs to find out how far away the galaxies are from each-other??
Does anybody know how to do this? Thank you for anyone who responds. I love astronomy


Here is the calamity


From NASA:
ABOUT THIS IMAGE:
What happens when a galaxy falls in with the wrong crowd? The irregular galaxy NGC 1427A is a spectacular example of the resulting stellar rumble. Under the gravitational grasp of a large gang of galaxies, called the Fornax cluster, the small bluish galaxy is plunging headlong into the group at 600 kilometers per second or nearly 400 miles per second.

NGC 1427A, which is located some 62 million light-years away from Earth in the direction of the constellation Fornax, shows numerous hot, blue stars in this newly released image obtained by the Hubble Space Telescope. These blue stars have been formed very recently, showing that star formation is occurring extensively throughout the galaxy.

Galaxy clusters, like the Fornax cluster, contain hundreds or even thousands of individual galaxies. Within the Fornax cluster, there is a considerable amount of gas lying between the galaxies. When the gas within NGC 1427A collides with the Fornax gas, it is compressed to the point that it starts to collapse under its own gravity. This leads to formation of the myriad of new stars seen across NGC 1427A, which give the galaxy an overall arrowhead shape that appears to point in the direction of the galaxy's high-velocity motion. The tidal forces of nearby galaxies in the cluster may also play a role in triggering star formation on such a massive scale.

NGC 1427A will not survive long as an identifiable galaxy passing through the cluster. Within the next billion years, it will be completely disrupted, spilling its stars and remaining gas into intergalactic space within the Fornax cluster.

To the upper left of NGC 1427A is a background galaxy that happens to lie near Hubble's line of sight but is some 25 times further away. In contrast to the irregularly shaped NGC 1427A, the background galaxy is a magnificent spiral, somewhat similar to our own Milky Way. Stars are forming in its symmetric pinwheel-shaped spiral arms, which can be traced into the galaxy's bright nucleus. This galaxy is, however, less dominated by very young stars than NGC 1427A, giving it an overall yellower color. At even greater distances background galaxies of various shapes and colors are scattered across the Hubble image.

The Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys was used to obtain images of NGC 1427A in visible (green), red, and infrared filters in January 2003. These images were then combined by the Hubble Heritage team to create the color rendition shown here. Astronomers are using the data to investigate the star-formation patterns throughout the object, to verify a prediction that there should be a relation between the ages of stars and their positions within the galaxy. This will help them understand how the gravitational influence of the cluster has affected the internal workings of this galaxy, and how this galaxy has responded to passing through the cluster environment.

The disruption of objects like NGC 1427A, and even larger galaxies like our own Milky Way, is an integral part of the formation and evolution of galaxy clusters. Such events are believed to have been very common during the early evolution of the universe, but the rate of galaxy destruction is tapering off at the present time. Thus the impending destruction of NGC 1427A provides a glimpse of an early and much more chaotic time in our universe.

Object Name: NGC 1427A

Image Type: Astronomical


Credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Acknowledgment: M. Gregg (Univ. Calif.-Davis and Inst. for Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Lawrence Livermore Natl. Lab.)
http://hubblesite.org/

Link
http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archiv ... 9/image/a/

[CNF2002]

Well, it really says "within the next billion years"...so if you calculated 1 billion years, it would not be accurate. It could be 3/4 of a billion years, and so forth.

[Johnj]

Let's see 60 sec in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, and 365.25 days per year. Thats 31,557,600 seconds times 400 miles for distance per year, times 1,000,000,000 for the total so I'd say it's a long way.

[Nibblet99]

So lets say 1 billion years. So how would you convert 400 mps against 1 billion yrs to find out how far away the galaxies are from each-other??

speed = distance divided by time

so speed * time = distance

... 400 miles per second multiplied by 1 billion multiplied by amount of seconds per year

Assuming an average of 365.25days per year, the rough answer would be

400 X 31557600 X 1000000000 = 12623040000000000000 Miles

Typing "12623040000000000000 miles in light years" into google gives a final answer of 2 147 323.36 Light Years

This is equal to roughly 658 357.706 Parsecs

[roscowgo]

When i start seeing numbers like this, is when i run out of the room and whimper in the computer lab.

[Nibblet99]

When i start seeing numbers like this, is when i run out of the room and whimper in the computer lab.

Why? Are the numbers like "1001010101101001011010100001001011011110101001001" and "a76bc78f9a0e9d978e678c7a98b889f7" more friendly?

[roscowgo]

To me they are.



I almost never have to actually derive something mathematically when dealing with computers. The occasional subnet allocation crops up. But I don't generally change my network around often enough to be figuring subnet masks and usable addresses.

Now if i was doing real electronics.... then hex and binary would help me. Maybe even a touch of octal here and there.


I do on the other hand have an assload of ip addresses, unc paths, passwords, login names, port #'s falling out of my ears.

[Logitech105]

Well, it really says "within the next billion years"...so if you calculated 1 billion years, it would not be accurate. It could be 3/4 of a billion years, and so forth.

I guess the world will never know exactly but for fun let's assume a billion yrs.

so lets see... 2,147,323.36 Light Years
It's going 400 miles per second = 1,440,000 MPH!
Of course you have to take into account Time Dilation. At relativistic speeds, time slows down.
So in 365000841395.6028 days earth time, the galaxy will have been traveling for 365000000000 days (1 billion years) their time.

[Wrider]

Well, it really says "within the next billion years"...so if you calculated 1 billion years, it would not be accurate. It could be 3/4 of a billion years, and so forth.

I guess the world will never know exactly but for fun let's assume a billion yrs.

so lets see... 2,147,323.36 Light Years
It's going 400 miles per second = 1,440,000 MPH!
Of course you have to take into account Time Dilation. At relativistic speeds, time slows down.
So in 365000841395.6028 days earth time, the galaxy will have been traveling for 365000000000 days (1 billion years) their time.

Very true, forgot about that... But keep in mind that the earth is moving pretty fast too (relatively speaking at 18.5 miles per second). Wonder if time would be different if one atomic clock was put where earth would reach it again in a year, just floating in space, and another was set here on earth? They already proved that theorem with an SR-71 Blackbird and two atomic clocks...
Wrider

[qwerty]

From the Hubblesite, the irregular galaxy (NGC 1427A) is hurtling towards the the constellation Fornax at 400 miles per second. Then it says, "Within the next billion years, it will be completely disrupted, spilling its stars and remaining gas into intergalactic space within the Fornax cluster." So lets say 1 billion years. So how would you convert 400 mps against 1 billion yrs to find out how far away the galaxies are from each-other??

(4*10^2mi/s)(6*10sec/min)(6*10min/hr)(24hr/d)(3.6525*10^2d/yr)(1x10^9yr)=
4mi*6*6*24*365.25*10^13=
1262304x10^13m=
12,623,040,000,000,000,000mi

12,623,040,000,000,000,000 mile [statute] = 2,148,748.238,904,608 light year [traditional]

It's a far piece.