Items tagged with milky way
For decades, astronomers have said of our Milky Way galaxy is headed for an inevitable, head-on collision with its colossal neighbor, Andromeda, in approximately 4.5 billion years. This collision, often depicted as a spectacular, transformative event, has been a cornerstone of our understanding/presumption of galactic...
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The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a product of over two decades of collaboration between NASA, CSA, and ESA, has made a remarkable discovery. From its home in a stable orbit in Lagrange point 2, the JWST captured a dazzling display of flaring activity from the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky...
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Astronomers using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (ESO’s VLTI) took the first close-up image of a dying star outside of the Milky Way. The newly imaged star, WH G64, is located within the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of the smaller galaxies that orbit the Milky Way.
While the...
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Scientists performing a deep dive into data from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Gaia mission have unveiled a monster black hole hiding in the constellation Aquila. The black hole, which is less than 2,000 light-years from Earth, has a mass of nearly 33 times that of the Sun.
The discovery marks the first time a...
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A new image captured by the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration has astronomers excited about magnetic fields spiraling from the edge of the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), as well as it hinting at a hidden jet. The image showed Sgr A* in polarized light for the first time, revealing a magnetic...
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According to a new study, astronomers were stunned to find a star that originated outside of the galaxy sitting near the supermassive black hole that sits at the center of the Milky Way. The find marks the first time a star of extragalactic origin has been identified so close to the supermassive black hole.
While...
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Astronomers have found a key ingredient for life in the outer reaches of the Milky Way galaxy. The discovery challenges our understanding of the origins of the element and potentially extends the galactic habitable zone.
The element that was found in a very unexpected location by a group of astronomers from the...
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NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) captured a bedazzling image of the center of the Milky Way with an unprecedented infrared-light view. The image contains a portion of the center of our galaxy that includes never-before-seen features that astronomers have yet to be able to explain.
The "chaotic region" at...
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Using data from NASA's Webb telescope, astronomers have detected a barred spiral galaxy in the early universe they say is a Milky Way twin. Surprisingly, the newly found galaxy, ceers-2112, is believed to have formed only 2 billion years after the Big Bang.
It was believed that it should take around 7 billion years...
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Scientists have used exotic stars to hear the universe's gravitational waves in what they call a "cosmic symphony". The team was made up of more than 190 scientists from the US and Canada using pulsars to search for gravitational waves over a period of 15 years.
The large group of astrophysicists employed large...
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Recent discoveries of previously unexplained structures in the center of the Milky Way have stunned astrophysicists. New radio telescope images revealed hundreds of filaments along the galactic plane, believed to have originated only a few million years ago, as a result a an outflow from Sagittarius A*, the...
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Following two decades of monitoring a dusty gas filament (known as X7) from W. M. Keck Observatory, astronomers believe the cloud will eventually get pulled toward Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) and later "cause some fireworks" as it gets consumed by the supermassive black hole. Astronomers project that Sgr A* will...
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As technology and the equipment astronomers use becomes more advanced, they are continually finding new stellar evidence. This is the case with a new study out of the University of California, Santa Cruz, which has redefined the boundaries of our very own Milky Way. The new findings have revealed more than 200 of the...
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Scientists have discovered a small number of stars making up an ancient galactic core which they are calling the heart of our galaxy. This cluster of 18,000 stars is believed to be from our galaxy's infancy and is the focus of new research recently published in The Astrophysical Journal.
A team of scientists used...
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New evidence points to the Andromeda galaxy being a cannibal that has been growing with intermittent feasts of smaller galaxies. An international team of scientists recently published a paper with the findings of two honor students.
A team of scientists led by a University of Sydney astrophysicist has discovered a...
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Researchers have created a map of the Milky Way's ancient dead past, revealing the resting place of stars that have since passed away. In fact, the study unveiled a massive eerie graveyard that stretches three times the height of our own Milky Way.
The Milky Way as we know it is a crowded space. A black hole...
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New research seems to indicate a giant gas bubble is circling the Milky Way's supermassive black hole. Astronomers believe the hot bubble of gas is about the size of the planet Mercury, and makes a full lap around the black hole in just 70 minutes. "This requires a mind-blowing velocity of about 30 percent of the...
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The European Space Agency (ESA) released new data about the Milky Way that includes an eerie symphony of starquakes from its Gaia mission. ESA's Gaia mission is aimed at creating the most accurate and complete multi-dimensional map of the Milky Way.
Space is no stranger to supernatural sounds. NASA released audio...
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope continues to deliver, by providing the first direct evidence of a lone black hole in interstellar space. Up until now, all black hole masses have been "inferred statistically", through interactions in binary systems, or in the cores of galaxies.
As the James Webb Space Telescope nears...
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Researchers led by a team at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have detected a wealth of previously unnoticed supermassive black holes in dwarf galaxies. The new information could lend valuable insight into the origin story of our very own Milky Way galaxy.
The Milky Way galaxy is believed to have...
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Astronomers have confirmed that some "red giant" stars in a binary system are being diminished by their voracious neighbors in a new research paper. The team of researchers from the University of Sydney says the finding is critical in understanding the life of stars in the Milky Way.
"Red giant" stars are plentiful...
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What happens when the universe gets indigestion? Massive bubbles form at the middle of the Milky Way, and then astronomers and scientists get to debate what it all means. They've been doing exactly that when, in 2020, the X-ray telescope eRosita discovered a pair of enormous bubbles at the center of the galaxy. The...
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