NGC7600 and Pro-Am collaboration

[Ken Crawford (KenC)]

I am sorry about the long post but the background information is very important to this image.

Over a year ago I imaged a galaxy for the star stream survey headed by Dr. David Martinez-Delgado. David is the principal investigator of the Stellar Tidal Stream Survey at the Max-Planck Institute in Heidelberg, Germany.

Cold Dark Matter (or CDM) is a theory that most of the material in the universe cannot be seen (dark) and that it moves very slowly (cold). It is currently the leading theory that helps explain the formation of galaxies, galaxy groups and even the current known structure of the universe. One of the problems with the theory is that it predicts large amounts of small satellite galaxies called dwarf galaxies. These small galaxies are about 1000th the mass of our Milky Way but the problem is, these are not observed. If this theory is correct, then where are all of the huge amounts of dwarf galaxies that should be there?

David believes the reason we do not see large amounts of dwarf galaxies is because they are absorbed (eaten) by larger galaxies as part of the galaxy formation. So minor merger evidence is what our team searches for.

I am excited to announce that my latest contribution has resulted in a professional letter that has been recently accepted by the Astronomical Journal. There are a few things that make this very special. One, is that Carlos Frenk the director of the Institute for Computational Cosmology at Durham University (UK) and his team found that my image of galaxy NGC7600 was similar enough to help validate their computer model (simulation). Carlos has been on several shows on the Science and Discovery channels, to name a few, to explain and show some of these amazing simulations. You can read more about Carlos here ; http://www.iau.org/public_press/images/detail/iau1103c

I could write much more but I believe you get the picture.

Here is a link to the image and the N-Body simulations. The N-Body Sims at at the bottom of the page.

http://www.imagingdeepsky.com/Galaxi...00/NGC7600.htm

For those who are interested, here is a direct link to the AJ Letters;

http://arxiv.org/abs/1111.2864

I did show some of this at AAIC but it is now offical because the AJ Letter as been accepted.

I do appologize for taking so much bandwidth on this post and thank you for taking the time to look . .

[rally]

Ken,

Really great stuff - even better to see that it is 'amateurs' contributing at this level.

Thanks for sharing it - I look forward to your next installment.

Well done.

Rally

[TrevorW]

Well done sometimes all the effort really pays off

[allan gould]

Most excellent image that has value both esthetically and scientifically. Really well done.

[gregbradley]

Awesome work Ken.

Greg.

[madbadgalaxyman (Robert)]

Ken,

I continue to be in awe of the amount of skill and hard work that you put in.

You have been rewarded for your considerable efforts by this remarkable piece of scientific work.

It is never easy to "discover something new", even for professional scientists.

This work is testament to your persistance and skill and knowledge.

I also wish to say that it is good to see professional recognition of the image depth and image quality achieved by highly talented amateurs.

cheers, Robert

[Ken Crawford (KenC)]

Originally Posted by madbadgalaxyman

Ken,

I continue to be in awe of the amount of skill and hard work that you put in.

You have been rewarded for your considerable efforts by this remarkable piece of scientific work.

It is never easy to "discover something new", even for professional scientists.

This work is testament to your persistance and skill and knowledge.

cheers, Robert

Thanks for the kind comments

I am certain that professionals will start relying more and more on Pro-Am collaborations. The different ZOO systems out there is proof of that. When (and if) the LSST system goes into play they have already contacted AIC for a conduit of high level people as they will produce mountains of data to slug through.

We all have one thing that is a real advantage over the professionals. We do not have to write proposals to use our equipment (except maybe to our spouses) and we can sit on a target for as long as we want. So we can build up incredible wide field data that can be useful for professionals out there.

Kindest Regards,

[atalas]

Congrats,great work again.

[astroron (Ron)]

Great work Ken and congratulations on your colaberation with the professional astronomers.
Cheers

[Ken Crawford (KenC)]

Originally Posted by astroron

Great work Ken and congratulations on your colaberation with the professional astronomers.
Cheers

One thing that I wanted to point out and there is a link about this on my iwebpage, is the fact that David Malin (and Carter) were the first to reveal these types of structures back in 1980!

[multiweb (Marc)]

Great read and lovely picture to boot. Congrats.

[strongmanmike (Michael)]

Fantastic result Ken, the simulation looks just like your deep image

Mike

[Leonardo70 (Leonardo Orazi)]

Great work Ken and congratulations for the result.
Thanks for sharing.

Leo

[Ken Crawford (KenC)]

Thanks again!!

After AAIC I do consider myself an adopted Aussie as I feel I have so many friends there now.

For those interested in further reading the story was picked up by The Universe Today:

http://www.universetoday.com/91138/d...ls/#more-91138

I hope everyone has a great week!

[Ross G]

An amazing capture and an amazing story Ken.

Ross.