Devotions for Lent 2023 Hymns of Lent

This Lent, we will continue reflecting on hymns of faith, namely, some of our most beloved Lenten hymns. 10 such hymns have been chosen to fill the 40(+) days of Lent. Therefore, this devotional, different from previous editions, does not proceed on a weekly basis, but merely flows from one hymn to the next. Also different from previous editions, the devotional reflections are specifically based on the stanzas of the selected hymns. Therefore, each day’s reflection features the text of the hymn stanza, a devotion based on that stanza, a prayer, and then a Scripture passage or passages for further meditation. I pray these reflections may be of edification for you during this Lenten season.https://scholar.csl.edu/osp/1022/thumbnail.jp

Diffuse X-Ray-emitting Gas in Major Mergers

Using archived data from the Chandra X-ray telescope, we have extracted the diffuse X-ray emission from 49 equal-mass interacting/merging galaxy pairs in a merger sequence, from widely separated pairs to merger remnants. After the removal of contributions from unresolved point sources, we compared the diffuse thermal X-ray luminosity from hot gas (L X (gas)) with the global star formation rate (SFR). After correction for absorption within the target galaxy, we do not see a strong trend of L X (gas)/SFR with the SFR or merger stage for galaxies with SFR > 1 Myr -1 . For these galaxies, the median L X (gas)/SFR is 5.5 ×10 39 ((erg s -1 )/Myr -1 )), similar to that of normal spiral galaxies. These results suggest that stellar feedback in star-forming galaxies reaches an approximately steady-state condition, in which a relatively constant fraction of about 2% of the total energy output from supernovae and stellar winds is converted into X-ray flux. Three late-stage merger remnants with low SFRs and high K-band luminosities (L K ) have enhanced L X (gas)/SFR; their UV/IR/optical colors suggest that they are post-starburst galaxies, perhaps in the process of becoming ellipticals. Systems with L K < 10 10 L have lower L X (gas)/SFR ratios than the other galaxies in our sample, perhaps due to lower gravitational fields or lower metallicities. We see no relation between L X (gas)/SFR and Seyfert activity in this sample, suggesting that feedback from active galactic nuclei is not a major contributor to the hot gas in our sample galaxies