From galaxy collisions to star birth: ISO finds the missing link
Data from ISO, the infrared observatory of the European Space Agency (ESA), have provided the first direct evidence that shock waves generated by galaxy collisions excite the gas from which new stars will form. The result also provides important clues on how the birth of the first stars was triggered and speeded up in the early Universe. By... view more... (2005-03-29)
Dark matter mystery deepens in cosmic 'train wreck'
Astronomers have discovered a chaotic scene unlike any witnessed before in a cosmic "train wreck" between giant galaxy clusters. view more (2007-08-17)
Crash Test-Iconic Rings and Flares of Galaxies Created by Violent, Intergalactic Collisions, Research by Pitt and Partners Finds
The bright pinwheels and broad star sweeps iconic of disk galaxies such as the Milky Way might all be the shrapnel from massive, violent collisions with other galaxies and galaxy-size chunks of dark matter, according to a multi-institutional project involving the University of Pittsburgh. view more (2008-11-24)
Discovery of most recent supernova in our galaxy
The most recent supernova in our Galaxy has been discovered by tracking the rapid expansion of its remains. This result, using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and NRAO's Very Large Array (VLA), has implications for understanding how often supernovas explode in the Milky Way galaxy. view more (2008-05-15)
NASA's Fermi Finds Gamma-ray Galaxy Surprises
Back in June 1991, just before the launch of NASA's Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory, astronomers knew of gamma rays from exactly one galaxy beyond our own. view more (2009-07-15)
Colossal Black Holes Common in the Early Universe
Astronomers think that many - perhaps all - galaxies in the universe contain massive black holes at their centers. New observations with the Submillimeter Array now suggest that such colossal black holes were common even 12 billion years ago, when the universe was only 1.7 billion years old and galaxies were just beginning to form. view more (2008-10-17)
Queen's physicist unlocking the mysteries of neighbouring galaxies
An international team of astronomers, including Queen's University physicist Larry Widrow, have uncovered evidence of a nearby cosmic encounter. view more (2009-09-08)
'Cosmic ghost' discovered by volunteer astronomer
When Yale astrophysicist Kevin Schawinski and his colleagues at Oxford University enlisted public support in cataloguing galaxies, they never envisioned the strange object Hanny van Arkel found in archived images of the night sky. view more (2008-08-06)
Galaxy 'Hunting' Made Easy
Astronomers using ESO's Very Large Telescope have discovered in a single pass about a dozen otherwise invisible galaxies halfway across the Universe. The discovery, based on a technique that exploits a first-class instrument, represents a major breakthrough in the field of galaxy 'hunting'. view more (2007-09-17)
XMM-Newton digs into the secrets of fossil galaxy clusters
Taking advantage of the high sensitivity of ESA's XMM-Newton and the sharp vision of NASA's Chandra X-Ray space observatories, astronomers have studied the behaviour of massive fossil galaxy clusters, trying to find out how they find the time to form- view more (2006-05-01)
Hubble spies shells of sparkling stars around quasar
New images taken with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope - part of a research project led by UC Riverside's Gabriela Canalizo - have revealed the wild side of an elliptical galaxy, nearly two billion light-years away, that previously had been considered mild-mannered. view more (2007-10-26)
Astronomers use gamma-ray burst to probe star formation in the early universe
The brilliant afterglow of a powerful gamma-ray burst (GRB) has enabled astronomers to probe the star-forming environment of a distant galaxy, resulting in the first detection of molecular gas in a GRB host galaxy. view more (2009-01-07)
Scientists Probe Black Hole's Inner Sanctum
How does matter spiral its way to the center of a galaxy and into the mouth of a supermassive black hole? view more (2006-01-10)
Star Family Seen Through Dusty Fog
Images made with ESO's New Technology Telescope at La Silla by a team of German astronomers reveal a rich circular cluster of stars in the inner parts of our Galaxy. Located 30,000 light-years away, this previously unknown closely-packed group of about 100,000 stars is most likely a new globular cluster. view more (2007-03-14)
Chandra data reveal rapidly whirling black holes
A new study using results from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory provides one of the best pieces of evidence yet that many supermassive black holes are spinning extremely rapidly. The whirling of these giant black holes drives powerful jets that pump huge amounts of energy into their environment and affects galaxy growth. view more (2008-01-11)
Into the Epoch of Galaxy Formation
Current theories hypothesize that more than 80% of all stars ever formed were assembled in galaxies during the latter half of the elapsed lifetime of the Universe, i.e., during the past 7-8 billion years. view more (2000-02-17)
ESA's XMM-Newton gains deep insights into the distant Universe
Using XMM-Newton, astronomers have obtained the world's deepest 'wide screen' X-ray image of the cosmos to date. Their observations show newly discovered clusters of galaxies and provide insights into the structure of the distant Universe"¦ Unlike grains of sand on a beach, matter is not uniformly spread throughout the Universe. Instead, it... view more... (2003-07-14)
Monster galaxy pileup sighted
Four galaxies are slamming into each other and kicking up billions of stars in one of the largest cosmic smash-ups ever observed. view more (2007-08-07)
Shedding light on the cosmic skeleton
"Matter is not distributed uniformly in the Universe," says Masayuki Tanaka from ESO, who led the new study. "In our cosmic vicinity, stars form in galaxies and galaxies usually form groups and clusters of galaxies. The most widely accepted cosmological theories predict that matter also clumps on a larger scale in the so-called... view more... (2009-11-03)
Galaxy Cluster Takes It to the Extreme
Evidence for an awesome upheaval in a massive galaxy cluster was discovered in an image made by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. The origin of a bright arc of ferociously hot gas extending over two million light years requires one of the most energetic events ever detected. view more (2007-05-31)
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