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Post Info TOPIC: Messier33
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NGC 598
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The Triangulum Galaxy was probably discovered by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Battista Hodierna before 1654.
The galaxy was independently discovered by Charles Messier on the night of August 25-26, 1764.
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Blobrana


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RE: Messier33
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Triangulum Galaxy Snapped by VST

 eso1424a.jpg

The VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at ESOs Paranal Observatory in Chile has captured a beautifully detailed image of the galaxy Messier 33. This nearby spiral, the second closest large galaxy to our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is packed with bright star clusters, and clouds of gas and dust. The new picture is amongst the most detailed wide-field views of this object ever taken and shows the many glowing red gas clouds in the spiral arms with particular clarity.
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Blobrana


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Nearby M33 galaxy blossoming with star birth

Nearby_M33_galaxy_blossoming_with_star_birth_node_full_image_2.jpg

This image, from ESA's Herschel space observatory, shows M33 in far-infrared light, revealing the glow of cosmic dust in the interstellar medium that permeates the galaxy. The patchy, disorganised structure of M33's spiral arms resembles a tuft of wool, leading astronomers to classify it as a flocculent spiral galaxy.
The brightest spots sprinkled along the spiral arms are dense pockets of gas and dust where massive stars are born. The most prominent of these is NGC604, visible in the upper left spiral arm. This is an enormous star-forming region where hundreds of thousands of stars are taking shape.
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Title: A detailed view of a Molecular Cloud in the far outer disk of M33
Authors: J. Braine, P. Gratier, Y. Contreras, K. F. Schuster, N. Brouillet

The amount of H_2 present in spiral galaxies remains uncertain, particularly in the dim outer regions and in low-metallicity environments. We present high-resolution CO(1--0) observations with the Plateau de Bure interferometer of the most distant molecular cloud in the local group galaxy M 33. The cloud is a single entity rather than a set of smaller clouds within the broad beam of the original single-dish observations. The interferometer and single-dish fluxes are very similar and the line widths are indistinguishable, despite the difference in beamsize. At a spatial resolution of 10 pc, beyond the optical radius of the M 33, the CO brightness temperature reaches 2.4 Kelvins. A virial mass estimate for the cloud yields a mass of 4.3 x 10^4 solar masses and a ratio
atio \simeq 3.5 x 10^{20} \Xunit. While no velocity gradient is seen where the emission is strong, the velocity is redshifted to the extreme SW and blue-shifted to the far NE. If the orientation of the cloud is along the plane of the disk (i.e. not perpendicular), then these velocities correspond to slow infall or accretion. The rather modest infall rate would be about 2 x 10^{-4}\moyr.

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Blobrana


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Title: Dense Gas in M33 (HerM33es)
Authors: C. Buchbender, C. Kramer, M. Gonzalez-Garcia, F. P. Israel, S. García-Burillo, P. van der Werf, J. Braine, E. Rosolowsky, B. Mookerjea, S. Aalto, M. Boquien, P. Gratier, C. Henkel, G. Quintana-Lacaci, S. Verley, F.van der Tak

We aim to better understand the emission of molecular tracers of the diffuse and dense gas in giant molecular clouds and the influence that metallicity, optical extinction, density, far-UV field, and star formation rate have onto these tracers. Using the IRAM 30m telescope, we detected HCN, HCO+, 12CO, and 13CO in six GMCs along the major axis of M33 at a resolution of ~ 114pc and out to a radial distance of 3.4kpc. Optical, far-infrared, and submillimetre data from Herschel and other observatories complement these observations. To interpret the observed molecular line emission, we created two grids of models of photon-dominated regions, one for solar and one for M33-type subsolar metallicity. The observed HCO+/HCN line ratios range between 1.1 and 2.5. Similarly high ratios have been observed in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The HCN/CO ratio varies between 0.4% and 2.9% in the disk of M33. The 12CO/13CO line ratio varies between 9 and 15 similar to variations found in the diffuse gas and the centers of GMCs of the Milky Way. Stacking of all spectra allowed HNC and C2H to be detected. The resulting HCO+/HNC and HCN/HNC ratios of ~ 8 and 6, respectively, lie at the high end of ratios observed in a large set of (ultra-)luminous infrared galaxies. HCN abundances are lower in the subsolar metallicity PDR models, while HCO+ abundances are enhanced. For HCN this effect is more pronounced at low optical extinctions. The observed HCO+/HCN and HCN/CO line ratios are naturally explained by subsolar PDR models of low optical extinctions between 3 and 10 mag and of moderate densities of n = 3x10^3 - 3x10^4 cm^-3, while the FUV field strength has only little effect on the modelled line ratios. The line ratios are almost equally well reproduced by the solar-metallicity models, indicating that variations in metallicity only play a minor role in influencing these line ratios.

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Milky Way's neighbour galaxies may have brushed closely in distant past

Recent studies with the National Science Foundation's Green Bank Telescope (GBT) have indicated that two of our Milky Way's neighbour galaxies may have had a close encounter billions of years ago.
The new observations confirm a disputed 2004 discovery of hydrogen gas streaming between the giant Andromeda galaxy, also known as M31, and the Triangulum Galaxy, or M33.
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Title: Newly Identified Star Clusters in M33. III. Structural Parameters
Authors: Izaskun San Roman, Ata Sarajedini, Jon A. Holtzman, Donald R. Garnett

We present the morphological properties of 161 star clusters in M33 using the Advanced Camera For Surveys Wide Field Channel onboard the Hubble Space Telescope using observations with the F606W and F814W filters. We obtain, for the first time, ellipticities, position angles, and surface brightness profiles for a significant number of clusters. On average, M33 clusters are more flattened than those of the Milky Way and M31, and more similar to clusters in the Small Magellanic Cloud. The ellipticities do not show any correlation with age or mass, suggesting that rotation is not the main cause of elongation in the M33 clusters. The position angles of the clusters show a bimodality with a strong peak perpendicular to the position angle of the galaxy major axis. These results support the notion that tidal forces are the reason for the cluster flattening. We fit King and EFF models to the surface brightness profiles and derive structural parameters including core radii, concentration, half-light radii and central surface brightness for both filters. The surface brightness profiles of a significant number of clusters show irregularities such as bumps and dips. Young clusters (Log age < 8) are notably better fitted by models with no radial truncation (EFF models), while older clusters show no significant differences between King or EFF fits. M33 star clusters seem to have smaller sizes, smaller concentrations, and smaller central surface brightness as compared to clusters in the MW, M31, LMC and SMC. Analysis of the structural parameters presents a age-radius relation also detected in other star cluster systems. The overall analysis shows differences in the structural evolution between the M33 cluster system and cluster systems in nearby galaxies. These differences could have been caused by the strong differences in these various environments.

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M33 X-8
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Title: Suzaku investigation into the nature of the nearest ultraluminous X-ray source, M33 X-8
Authors: Naoki Isobe (1), Aya Kubota (2), Hiroshi Sato (2), Tsunefumi Mizuno (3) ((1) ISAS/JAXA, (2) Shibaura Institute of Technology, (3) Hiroshima University)

The X-ray spectrum of the nearest ultraluminous X-ray source, M33 X-8, obtained by Suzaku during 2010 January 11 -- 13, was closely analysed to examine its nature. It is, by far, the only data with the highest signal statistic in 0.4 -- 10 keV range. Despite being able to reproduce the X-ray spectrum, Comptonisation of the disk photons failed to give a physically meaningful solution. A modified version of the multi-colour disk model, in which the dependence of the disk temperature on the radius is described as r^(-p) with p being a free parameter, can also approximate the spectrum. From this model, the innermost disk temperature and bolometric luminosity were obtained as T_in = 2.00-0.05+0.06 keV and L_disk = 1.36 x 10^39 (cos i)^(-1) ergs/s, respectively, where i is the disk inclination. A small temperature gradient of p = 0.535-0.005+0.004, together with the high disk temperature, is regarded as the signatures of the slim accretion disk model, suggesting that M33 X-8 was accreting at high mass accretion rate. With a correction factor for the slim disk taken into account, the innermost disk radius, R_in =81.9-6.5+5.9 (cos i)^(-0.5) km, corresponds to the black hole mass of M ~ 10 solar masses (cos i)^(-0.5). Accordingly, the bolometric disk luminosity is estimated to be about 80 (cos i)^(-0.5)% of the Eddington limit. A numerically calculated slim disk spectrum was found to reach a similar result. Thus, the extremely super-Eddington luminosity is not required to explain the nature of M33 X-8. This conclusion is utilised to argue for the existence of intermediate mass black holes with M > 100 solar masses radiating at the sub/trans-Eddington luminosity, among ultraluminous X-ray sources with L_disk > 10^(40) ergs/s.


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Blobrana


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Messier 33
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Title: Cool and warm dust emission from M33 (HerM33es)
Authors: E. M. Xilouris, F. S. Tabatabaei, M. Boquien, C. Kramer, C. Buchbender, F. Bertoldi, S. Anderl, J. Braine, S. Verley, M. Relano, G. Quintana-Lacaci, S. Akras, R. Beck, D. Calzetti, F. Combes, M. Gonzalez, P. Gratier, C. Henkel, F. Israel, B. Koribalski, S. Lord, B. Mookerjea, E. Rosolowsky, G. Stacey, R. P. J. Tilanus, F. van der Tak, P. van der Werf

We study the far-infrared emission from the nearby spiral galaxy M33 in order to investigate the dust physical properties such as the temperature and the luminosity density across the galaxy. Taking advantage of the unique wavelength coverage (100, 160, 250, 350 and 500 micron) of the Herschel Space Observatory and complementing our dataset with Spitzer-IRAC 5.8 and 8 micron and Spitzer-MIPS 24 and 70 micron data, we construct temperature and luminosity density maps by fitting two modified blackbodies of a fixed emissivity index of 1.5. We find that the 'cool' dust grains are heated at temperatures between 11 and 28 K with the lowest temperatures found in the outskirts of the galaxy and the highest ones in the center and in the bright HII regions. The infrared/submillimetre total luminosity (5 - 1000 micron) is estimated to be 1.9x10^9 Lsun. 59% of the total luminosity of the galaxy is produced by the 'cool' dust grains (~15 K) while the rest 41% is produced by 'warm' dust grains (~55 K). The ratio of the cool-to-warm dust luminosity is close to unity (within the computed uncertainties), throughout the galaxy, with the luminosity of the cool dust being slightly enhanced in the center of the galaxy. Decomposing the emission of the dust into two components (one emitted by the diffuse disk of the galaxy and one emitted by the spiral arms) we find that the fraction of the emission in the disk in the mid-infrared (24 micron) is 21%, while it gradually rises up to 57% in the submillimetre (500 micron). We find that the bulk of the luminosity comes from the spiral arm network that produces 70% of the total luminosity of the galaxy with the rest coming from the diffuse dust disk. The 'cool' dust inside the disk is heated at a narrow range of temperatures between 18 and 15 K (going from the center to the outer parts of the galaxy).

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Blobrana


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RE: Messier33
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Title: Giant Molecular Clouds in the Local Group Galaxy M33
Authors: P. Gratier, J. Braine, N.J. Rodriguez-Fernandez, K.F. Schuster, C. Kramer, E. Corbelli, F. Combes, N. Brouillet, P. P. van der Werf, M. Röllig

We present an analysis of the systematic CO(2-1) survey at 12" resolution covering most of the local group spiral M 33 which, at a distance of 840 kpc, is close enough that individual giant molecular clouds (GMCs) can be identified. The goal of this work is to study the properties of the GMCs in this subsolar metallicity galaxy. The CPROPS (Cloud Properties) algorithm (Rosolowsky & Leroy 2006) was used to identify 337 GMCs in M 33, the largest sample to date in an external galaxy. The sample is used to study the GMC luminosity function, or mass spectrum under the assumption of a constant N(H2)/ICO ratio. We find that n(L)dL = K*L^(-2.0±0.1) for the entire sample. However, when the sample is divided into inner and outer disk samples, the exponent changes from 1.6 ±0.2 for the centre 2 kpc to 2.3 ±0.2 for galactocentric distances larger than 2 kpc. Based on the emission in the FUV, Halpha, 8mu, and 24mu bands, each cloud was classified in terms of its star forming activity - no star formation, embedded, or exposed star formation (visible in FUV and Halpha). At least one sixth of the clouds had no (massive) star formation, suggesting that the average time required for star formation to start is about one sixth of the total time for which the object is identifiable as a GMC. The clouds without star formation have significantly lower CO luminosities than those with star formation, whether embedded or exposed, presumably related to the lack of heating sources. Taking the cloud sample as a whole, the main non-trivial correlation was the decrease in cloud CO brightness (or luminosity) with galactocentric radius. The complete cloud catalogue, including CO and HI spectra and the CO contours on the FUV, Halpha, 8mu, and 24mu images is presented in the appendix.

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