An astronomical object or celestial object is a naturally occurring
physical entity, association, or structure that current astronomy has
demonstrated to exist in the observable universe.[1]
In astronomy, the terms "object" and "body" are often used
interchangeably. However, an astronomical body or celestial body
refers to a single, tightly bound contiguous entity, while an
astronomical or celestial object refers to a complex, less cohesively
bound structure, that may consist of multiple bodies or even other
objects with substructures.
Examples for astronomical objects include planetary systems, star
clusters, nebulae and galaxies, while asteroids, moons, planets, and
stars are astronomical bodies. A comet may be identified as both body
and object: It is a body when referring to the frozen nucleus of ice and
dust, and an object when describing the entire comet with its diffuse
coma and tail.
A galaxy is a gravitationally bound system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas,
dust, and dark matter.[1][2] The word galaxy is derived from the Greek galaxias
(γαλαξίας), literally "milky", a reference to the Milky Way. Galaxies range in size
from dwarfs with just a few billion (109) stars to giants with one hundred trillion
(1014) stars,[3] each orbiting its galaxy's center of mass. Galaxies are categorized
according to their visual morphology as elliptical,[4] spiral and irregular.[5] Many
galaxies are thought to have black holes at their active centers. The Milky Way's
central black hole, known as Sagittarius A*, has a mass four million times greater
than the Sun.[6] As of March 2016, GN-z11 is the oldest and most distant observed
galaxy with a comoving distance of 32 billion light-years from Earth, and observed as
it existed just 400 million years after the Big Bang.
Recent estimates of the number of galaxies in the observable universe range from
200 billion (2×1011)[7] to 2 trillion (2×1012) or more,[8][9] containing more stars
than all the grains of sand on planet Earth.[10] Most of the galaxies are 1,000 to
100,000 parsecs in diameter and separated by distances on the order of millions of
parsecs (or megaparsecs). The space between galaxies is filled with a tenuous gas
having an average density of less than one atom per cubic meter.
NGC 4414, a typical spiral galaxy in the
constellation Coma Berenices, is about
Galaxies have a variety of morphologies, with irregular, elliptical and disk-like
55,000 light-years in diameter and
shapes, depending on their formation and evolutionary histories, including
approximately 60 million light-years
interaction with other galaxies, which may lead to a merger.[4] Disc galaxies
away from Earth
encompass lenticular and spiral galaxies with features, such as spiral arms and a
distinct halo. At the core, most galaxies have a supermassive black hole, which may
result in an active galactic nucleus. Galaxies can also have satellites in the form of
dwarf galaxies and globular clusters.
The Spindle Galaxy
(NGC 5866), a
lenticular galaxy in the
Draco constellation.
This image shows that
lenticular galaxies may
retain a considerable
amount of dust in their
disk. There is little to
no gas and thus they
are considered
deficient in interstellar
matter.
)
An example of a spiral
galaxy, the Pinwheel Galaxy
(also known as Messier
101 or NGC 5457
A black hole is a region of spacetime exhibiting such strong
gravitational effects that nothing—not even particles and
electromagnetic radiation such as light—can escape from inside it.
The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact
mass can deform spacetime to form a black hole.The boundary of
the region from which no escape is possible is called the event
horizon. Although the event horizon has an enormous effect on
the fate and circumstances of an object crossing it, no locally
detectable features appear to be observed. In many ways a black
Artist concept of a hole acts like an ideal black body, as it reflects no light.
SMBH consuming Black holes of stellar mass are expected to form when very
matter from a nearby massive stars collapse at the end of their life cycle. After a black
star. hole has formed, it can continue to grow by absorbing mass from
its surroundings. By absorbing other stars and merging with other
black holes, supermassive black holes of millions of solar masses.
A pulsar is a highly magnetized, rotating neutron star or white dwarf,
that emits a beam of electromagnetic radiation. This radiation can be
observed only when the beam of emission is pointing toward Earth
(much the way a lighthouse can be seen only when the light is pointed
in the direction of an observer), and is responsible for the pulsed
appearance of emission. Neutron stars are very dense, and have
short, regular rotational periods. This produces a very precise interval
between pulses that range from milliseconds to seconds for an
individual pulsar. Pulsars are believed to be one of the candidates of
high and ultra-high energy astroparticles .
Schematic view of a pulsar. The
Artistic animation of a sphere in the middle represents the
pulsar pulling matter neutron star, the curves indicate the
magnetic field lines, the protruding
from a nearby star cones represent the emission beams
and the green line represents the
axis on which the star rotates.
The Vela Pulsar and its
surrounding pulsar wind
nebula.
A star system or stellar system is a small number of stars that orbit each other,[1] bound by gravitational attraction. A
large number of stars bound by gravitation is generally called a star cluster or galaxy, although, broadly speaking, they
are also star systems. Star systems are not to be confused with planetary systems, which include planets and similar
bodies.
A star system of two stars is known as a binary star, binary star system or physical double star. If there are no tidal
effects, no perturbation from other forces, and no transfer of mass from one star to the other, such a system is stable,
and both stars will trace out an elliptical orbit around the center of mass of the system indefinitely. (See Two-body
problem). Examples of binary systems are Sirius, Procyon and Cygnus X-1, the last of which probably consists of a star
and a black hole.
A multiple star system consists of three or more stars that appear from Earth to be close to one another in the sky.
This may result from the stars actually being physically close and gravitationally bound to each other, in which case it
is a physical multiple star, or this closeness may be merely apparent, in which case it is an optical multiple star
(meaning that the stars may appear to be close to each other when viewed from planet Earth, as they both seem to
occupy the same point in the sky, but in reality, one star may be much further away from Earth than the other, which
is not readily apparent unless one can view them from a different angle).
Star system named DI Cha.
While only two stars are
apparent, it is actually a
quadruple system
containing two sets of
binary stars.[11]
A nebula (Latin for "cloud";[2] pl. nebulae, nebulæ, or nebulas) is an
interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen, helium and other ionized gases.
Originally, nebula was a name for any diffuse astronomical object, including
galaxies beyond the Milky Way. The Andromeda Galaxy, for instance, was
once referred to as the Andromeda Nebula (and spiral galaxies in general as
"spiral nebulae") before the true nature of galaxies was confirmed in the
early 20th century by Vesto Slipher, Edwin Hubble and others.
Most nebulae are of vast size, even millions of light years in diameter.[3]
Contrary to fictional depictions where starships hide in nebulae as thick as
cloud banks, in reality a nebula that is barely visible to the human eye from
Earth would appear larger, but no brighter, from close by.[4] The Orion
Nebula, the brightest nebula in the sky that occupies a region twice the
diameter of the full Moon, can be viewed with the naked eye but was
missed by early astronomers.[5] Although denser than the space
surrounding them, most nebulae are far less dense than any vacuum
created on Earth – a nebular cloud the size of the Earth would have a total
mass of only a few kilograms. Many nebulae are visible due to their
fluorescence caused by the embedded hot stars, while others are so diffuse The "Pillars of Creation" from
they can only be detected with long exposures and special filters. Some the Eagle Nebula. Evidence from
nebulae are variably illuminated by T Tauri variable stars. Nebulae are often the Spitzer Telescope suggests
star-forming regions, such as in the "Pillars of Creation" in the Eagle Nebula. that the pillars may already have
In these regions the formations of gas, dust, and other materials "clump" been destroyed by a supernova
together to form denser regions, which attract further matter, and explosion, but the light showing
eventually will become dense enough to form stars. The remaining material us the destruction will not reach
is then believed to form planets and other planetary system objects. the Earth for another
millennium.[1]
Portion of the
Carina Nebula
The Triangulum
Emission Garren
Nebula NGC 604
The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological
model for the universe[1] from the earliest known
periods through its subsequent large-scale evolution.
[2][3][4] The model describes how the universe
expanded from a very high density and high
temperature state,[5][6] and offers a comprehensive
explanation for a broad range of phenomena
A star is a luminous sphere of plasma held together by its own gravity. The nearest star to
Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye from Earth during the
night, appearing as a multitude of fixed luminous points in the sky due to their immense
distance from Earth. Historically, the most prominent stars were grouped into
constellations and asterisms, the brightest of which gained proper names. Astronomers
have assembled star catalogues that identify the known stars and provide standardized
stellar designations. However, most of the stars in the Universe, including all stars outside
our galaxy, the Milky Way, are invisible to the naked eye from Earth. Indeed, most are
invisible from Earth even through the most powerful telescopes.
A star's life begins with the gravitational collapse of a gaseous nebula of material
composed primarily of hydrogen, along with helium and trace amounts of heavier
elements. When the stellar core is sufficiently dense, hydrogen becomes steadily
converted into helium through nuclear fusion, releasing energy in the process.[1] The
remainder of the star's interior carries energy away from the core through a combination
of radiative and convective heat transfer processes. The star's internal pressure prevents
it from collapsing further under its own gravity. A star with mass greater than 0.4 times
the Sun's will expand to become a red giant when the hydrogen fuel in its core is
exhausted.[2] In some cases, it will fuse heavier elements at the core or in shells around
the core. As the star expands it throws a part of its mass, enriched with those heavier
elements, into the interstellar environment, to be recycled later as new stars.[3]
Meanwhile, the core becomes a stellar remnant: a white dwarf, a neutron star, or if it is
sufficiently massive a black hole.
Binary and multi-star systems consist of two or more stars that are gravitationally bound
and generally move around each other in stable orbits. When two such stars have a
relatively close orbit, their gravitational interaction can have a significant impact on their
evolution.[4] Stars can form part of a much larger gravitationally bound structure, such as
a star cluster or a galaxy.
False-color imagery
of the Sun, a G-type
A main-sequence star,
star-forming region the closest to Earth
in the Large
Magellanic Cloud.
Historically, stars have been important to civilizations throughout the world. They have been part of religious
practices and used for celestial navigation and orientation. Many ancient astronomers believed that stars were
permanently affixed to a heavenly sphere and that they were immutable. By convention, astronomers grouped
stars into constellations and used them to track the motions of the planets and the inferred position of the Sun.[5]
The motion of the Sun against the background stars (and the horizon) was used to create calendars, which could
be used to regulate agricultural practices.[7] The Gregorian calendar, currently used nearly everywhere in the
world, is a solar calendar based on the angle of the Earth's rotational axis relative to its local star, the Sun.
The oldest accurately dated star chart was the result of ancient Egyptian astronomy in 1534 BC.[8] The earliest
known star catalogues were compiled by the ancient Babylonian astronomers of Mesopotamia in the late 2nd
millennium BC, during the Kassite Period (ca. 1531–1155 BC).[9]
The first star catalogue in Greek astronomy was created by Aristillus in approximately 300 BC, with the help of
Timocharis.[10] The star catalog of Hipparchus (2nd century BC) included 1020 stars, and was used to assemble
Ptolemy's star catalogue.[11] Hipparchus is known for the discovery of the first recorded nova (new star).[12]
Many of the constellations and star names in use today derive from Greek astronomy.
In spite of the apparent immutability of the heavens, Chinese astronomers were aware that new stars could
appear.[13] In 185 AD, they were the first to observe and write about a supernova, now known as the SN 185.[14]
The brightest stellar event in recorded history was the SN 1006 supernova, which was observed in 1006 and
written about by the Egyptian astronomer Ali ibn Ridwan and several Chinese astronomers.[15] The SN 1054
supernova, which gave birth to the Crab Nebula, was also observed by Chinese and Islamic astronomers.[16][17]
[18]
