Forwarded from sci.astro, courtesy of Andrew Yee
Approved:
JOINT ASTRONOMY CENTRE PRESS NOTICE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: 10 April 2002
Issued by:
Douglas Pierce-Price (Joint Astronomy Centre)
Email: d.pierce-price@jach.hawaii.edu
Website: http://www.jach.hawaii.edu
Tel: +44 (0)117 954 5913 (until 12th April 2002)
+1 808 969 6524 (after 12th April 2002)
Fax: +1 808 961 6516 (after 12th April 2002)
FULL CONTACT DETAILS AND INFORMATION ON ILLUSTRATIONS AT THE END
----------------------------------------------------------------
ASTRONOMERS DETECT STELLAR ASHES AT THE DAWN OF TIME
Using a powerful instrument on a telescope in Hawaii, UK astronomers
have found ashes from a generation of stars that died over 10 billion
years ago. This is the first time that the tell-tale cosmic dust has
been detected at such an early stage in the evolution of the universe.
Dr. Kate Isaak of Cambridge University will be announcing these
exciting new results at the National Astronomy Meeting in Bristol on
11th April 2002.
Using the SCUBA (Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array) camera
on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii, the team of British
astronomers observed a sample of the most distant quasars known, to
detect their primeval 'host' galaxies. The submillimetre wavelength
radiation detected by SCUBA comes from large amounts of cool dust,
a substance formed in supernovae and/or the atmospheres of old stars.
Team leader Dr. Robert Priddey (Imperial College) said "These quasars
are the most distant submillimetre sources known. We're looking more
than nine-tenths of the way back to the birth of the universe in the
Big Bang."
The quasars are extremely far from us, as measured by their very
high redshifts of 5-6. These huge distances mean that their light
was emitted when the universe was less than a tenth of its current
age -- a mere billion years after the Big Bang. Consequently, the
host galaxies are caught when they are extremely young, and when
astronomers might expect to see a burst of star formation.
Dr. Priddey explained "It's amazing enough that these quasars,
powered by billion solar mass black holes, should already exist
only a billion years after the Big Bang. That these quasars also
appear to contain so much dust yields important clues to the
formation of massive galaxies in the youthful cosmos."
Although it is not yet known whether the dust in these quasars is
heated by hot, young stars within the galaxy, or directly by the
quasar itself, the very existence of the dust and its constituent
elements such as silicon and carbon implies that a large mass of
stars have already been born, grown old and expired, within only a
billion years of the Big Bang.
Dr. Isaak said "These observations of very distant quasars are part
of a programme looking at the submillimetre emission of quasars from
low to high redshift. If we hunt for ever higher redshift quasars,
we might catch the epoch at which the first dust forms."
Team member Dr. Richard McMahon (University of Cambridge) added "The
stars that made the carbon and silicon in these quasars are probably
like the stars that made the carbon in our own bodies. It is very
exciting to be able to learn when the chemical elements in our bodies
were made. These quasars seem to be forming stars at a rate of around
1000 stars like the Sun per year."
Notes for editors:
An image of the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii is available
at
http://www.jach.hawaii.edu/~douglas/quasars/
Quasars are incredibly bright and distant objects, thought to be
examples of Active Galaxies, which shine hundreds of times brighter
than normal galaxies like our own. They are powered by gas in the
galactic core falling into a 'supermassive' black hole which can be
as much as one billion times as massive as our own Sun. For a brief
period, the compact nucleus shine brighter than all the stars in the
galaxy.
SCUBA (the Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array) is currently
the world's most powerful "submillimetre-wave" camera. It has
revolutionised our knowledge of many areas of astronomy. The
instrument contains highly sensitive detectors called bolometers,
which are cooled to 0.06 degrees above absolute zero (-273 degrees
Centigrade) to make them super-sensitive to the incoming
submillimetre waves. It has been in operation on the James Clerk
Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) in Hawaii for about five years.
The host galaxies detected by SCUBA contain dust with a mass about
100 million times that of our Sun. The black holes in their cores
are at least one billion times as massive as our Sun, and are
swallowing about 10-100 solar masses of material per year.
'Redshift' measures the factor by which the light we observe from
distant sources has been stretched, as the Universe expands during
the course of its journey. The higher the redshift, the further away
the source. The most distant of the quasars has a redshift of six,
meaning that it emitted the light we detect when the radius of the
Universe was one seventh of its current value. At this time, the
universe was about a billion years old, compared to its current age
of over 10 billion years.
Contact details:
Dr. Robert Priddey
Astrophysics Group
Blackett Laboratory
Imperial College
London SW7 2BW, UK
Email: r.priddey@ic.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)20 7594 7543
Fax: +44 (0)20 7594 7541
Dr. Kate Isaak
Astrophysics Group
Cavendish Laboratory
Madingley Road
Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK
Email: isaak@mrao.cam.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)1223 339242
Fax: +44 (0)1223 354599
Dr. Richard McMahon
Institute of Astronomy
University of Cambridge
Madingley Road
Cambridge CB3 OHA, UK
Email: rgm@ast.cam.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)1223 337548/19
Mobile: 07885 409019
Fax: +44 (0)1223 337523
Douglas Pierce-Price
Joint Astronomy Centre
660 North A`ohoku Place
Hilo, Hawaii 96720, USA
Email: d.pierce-price@jach.hawaii.edu
Website: http://www.jach.hawaii.edu
Tel: +44 (0)117 954 5913 (until 12th April 2002)
+1 808 969 6524 (after 12th April 2002)
Fax: +1 808 961 6516 (after 12th April 2002)
IMAGE CAPTION:
[http://www.jach.hawaii.edu/~douglas/quasars/jcmt.jpg (105KB)]
The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii, which observed the quasars.
Photograph by Robin Phillips of JAC.
Approved:
JOINT ASTRONOMY CENTRE PRESS NOTICE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: 10 April 2002
Issued by:
Douglas Pierce-Price (Joint Astronomy Centre)
Email: d.pierce-price@jach.hawaii.edu
Website: http://www.jach.hawaii.edu
Tel: +44 (0)117 954 5913 (until 12th April 2002)
+1 808 969 6524 (after 12th April 2002)
Fax: +1 808 961 6516 (after 12th April 2002)
FULL CONTACT DETAILS AND INFORMATION ON ILLUSTRATIONS AT THE END
----------------------------------------------------------------
ASTRONOMERS DETECT STELLAR ASHES AT THE DAWN OF TIME
Using a powerful instrument on a telescope in Hawaii, UK astronomers
have found ashes from a generation of stars that died over 10 billion
years ago. This is the first time that the tell-tale cosmic dust has
been detected at such an early stage in the evolution of the universe.
Dr. Kate Isaak of Cambridge University will be announcing these
exciting new results at the National Astronomy Meeting in Bristol on
11th April 2002.
Using the SCUBA (Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array) camera
on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii, the team of British
astronomers observed a sample of the most distant quasars known, to
detect their primeval 'host' galaxies. The submillimetre wavelength
radiation detected by SCUBA comes from large amounts of cool dust,
a substance formed in supernovae and/or the atmospheres of old stars.
Team leader Dr. Robert Priddey (Imperial College) said "These quasars
are the most distant submillimetre sources known. We're looking more
than nine-tenths of the way back to the birth of the universe in the
Big Bang."
The quasars are extremely far from us, as measured by their very
high redshifts of 5-6. These huge distances mean that their light
was emitted when the universe was less than a tenth of its current
age -- a mere billion years after the Big Bang. Consequently, the
host galaxies are caught when they are extremely young, and when
astronomers might expect to see a burst of star formation.
Dr. Priddey explained "It's amazing enough that these quasars,
powered by billion solar mass black holes, should already exist
only a billion years after the Big Bang. That these quasars also
appear to contain so much dust yields important clues to the
formation of massive galaxies in the youthful cosmos."
Although it is not yet known whether the dust in these quasars is
heated by hot, young stars within the galaxy, or directly by the
quasar itself, the very existence of the dust and its constituent
elements such as silicon and carbon implies that a large mass of
stars have already been born, grown old and expired, within only a
billion years of the Big Bang.
Dr. Isaak said "These observations of very distant quasars are part
of a programme looking at the submillimetre emission of quasars from
low to high redshift. If we hunt for ever higher redshift quasars,
we might catch the epoch at which the first dust forms."
Team member Dr. Richard McMahon (University of Cambridge) added "The
stars that made the carbon and silicon in these quasars are probably
like the stars that made the carbon in our own bodies. It is very
exciting to be able to learn when the chemical elements in our bodies
were made. These quasars seem to be forming stars at a rate of around
1000 stars like the Sun per year."
Notes for editors:
An image of the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii is available
at
http://www.jach.hawaii.edu/~douglas/quasars/
Quasars are incredibly bright and distant objects, thought to be
examples of Active Galaxies, which shine hundreds of times brighter
than normal galaxies like our own. They are powered by gas in the
galactic core falling into a 'supermassive' black hole which can be
as much as one billion times as massive as our own Sun. For a brief
period, the compact nucleus shine brighter than all the stars in the
galaxy.
SCUBA (the Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array) is currently
the world's most powerful "submillimetre-wave" camera. It has
revolutionised our knowledge of many areas of astronomy. The
instrument contains highly sensitive detectors called bolometers,
which are cooled to 0.06 degrees above absolute zero (-273 degrees
Centigrade) to make them super-sensitive to the incoming
submillimetre waves. It has been in operation on the James Clerk
Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) in Hawaii for about five years.
The host galaxies detected by SCUBA contain dust with a mass about
100 million times that of our Sun. The black holes in their cores
are at least one billion times as massive as our Sun, and are
swallowing about 10-100 solar masses of material per year.
'Redshift' measures the factor by which the light we observe from
distant sources has been stretched, as the Universe expands during
the course of its journey. The higher the redshift, the further away
the source. The most distant of the quasars has a redshift of six,
meaning that it emitted the light we detect when the radius of the
Universe was one seventh of its current value. At this time, the
universe was about a billion years old, compared to its current age
of over 10 billion years.
Contact details:
Dr. Robert Priddey
Astrophysics Group
Blackett Laboratory
Imperial College
London SW7 2BW, UK
Email: r.priddey@ic.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)20 7594 7543
Fax: +44 (0)20 7594 7541
Dr. Kate Isaak
Astrophysics Group
Cavendish Laboratory
Madingley Road
Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK
Email: isaak@mrao.cam.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)1223 339242
Fax: +44 (0)1223 354599
Dr. Richard McMahon
Institute of Astronomy
University of Cambridge
Madingley Road
Cambridge CB3 OHA, UK
Email: rgm@ast.cam.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)1223 337548/19
Mobile: 07885 409019
Fax: +44 (0)1223 337523
Douglas Pierce-Price
Joint Astronomy Centre
660 North A`ohoku Place
Hilo, Hawaii 96720, USA
Email: d.pierce-price@jach.hawaii.edu
Website: http://www.jach.hawaii.edu
Tel: +44 (0)117 954 5913 (until 12th April 2002)
+1 808 969 6524 (after 12th April 2002)
Fax: +1 808 961 6516 (after 12th April 2002)
IMAGE CAPTION:
[http://www.jach.hawaii.edu/~douglas/quasars/jcmt.jpg (105KB)]
The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii, which observed the quasars.
Photograph by Robin Phillips of JAC.