Articles tagged with Milky Way
A study of massive stars confirms the Milky Way has four spiral arms, contradicting previous findings from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. The researchers used data from radio telescopes in Australia, USA and China to analyze the distribution of massive stars across the galaxy.
Astronomers Alice Quillen and her team developed a mathematical model to understand the movement of stars in the galactic bulge, finding that peanut-shell shaped orbits are consistent with observed effects. The new research aims to improve our understanding of galaxy formation and evolution.
The recently discovered ultra-compact dwarf galaxy M60-UCD1 has a density of stars about 15,000 times greater than in the Milky Way. The galaxy's central bright X-ray source suggests a massive black hole weighing 10 million times the sun's mass.
Astronomers used ESO's VISTA telescope to create the best 3D map yet of the Milky Way's central bulge, revealing an X-shaped structure. The galactic bulge is composed of 22 million red giant stars that can be used as standard candles to measure distances.
Researchers have used data from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory to identify new information about the origin of cosmic rays. The study provides new constraints for models explaining the acceleration and propagation of cosmic rays, with potential implications for understanding their impact on human DNA and electronics in space.
Astronomers have observed a distant quasar split into multiple images by the effects of a Milky Way gas cloud. The event provides a rare opportunity to study the properties of turbulent gas in our galaxy.
Researchers have discovered a magnetar at the centre of our Milky Way, providing insights into the strong magnetic field surrounding the supermassive black hole. The discovery enables scientists to study the accretion flow and X-ray emissions of the gravity trap.
Astronomers using Hubble Space Telescope have solved the 40-year mystery on the origin of the Magellanic Stream. Most of the gas was stripped from the Small Magellanic Cloud about 2 billion years ago, and a second region originated from the Large Magellanic Cloud.
Astronomers using Hubble Space Telescope have solved the mystery of the Magellanic Stream's origin, finding most of the gas came from the Small Magellanic Cloud two billion years ago. A second region was formed more recently from the Large Magellanic Cloud, contradicting previous computer models.
Astronomers have tracked the orbital motion of 33,000 stars in one of the Galaxy's oldest globular clusters, offering new insights into the formation of the Milky Way. The study reveals two distinct generations of stars within globular cluster 47 Tucanae, differing in age by 100 million years.
Researchers used Hubble to analyze the motion of over 30,000 stars in 47 Tucanae, linking their orbital motion to age for the first time. The study found two distinct populations of stars, with ages differing by less than 100 million years.
Researchers led by CU-Boulder's John Stocke discovered normal spiral galaxies are surrounded by massive gas halos extending up to 1 million light-years in diameter, much larger than previously estimated. These findings have significant consequences for galaxy evolution and provide new insights into the formation process of stars.
Messier 61 is a massive spiral galaxy with a diameter of 100,000 light-years, located 55 million light-years from Earth. The galaxy features six supernovae, making it one of the top galaxies for supernova observations.
New study using VLBA reveals Local Arm is a significant branch of the Perseus Arm or an independent arm segment. The research uses parallax method to accurately measure distances and space motions.
NASA's Swift satellite has created the most detailed ultraviolet light surveys of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, two closest major galaxies. The new images reveal about 1 million ultraviolet sources in the LMC and about 250,000 in the SMC.
Astronomers have discovered a young supernova remnant, G306.3.9, located in the central regions of the Milky Way galaxy, estimated to be around 2,500 years old. The Swift and Chandra X-ray satellites detected the object, which is one of the 20 youngest known remnants identified.
Astronomers suggest that a merger between a galactic black hole and an intermediate-sized black hole in a satellite galaxy could have produced the observed high-energy radiation in the Fermi bubbles. This scenario also explains the absence of old stars near the supermassive black hole.
Scientists have discovered that dung beetles use the Milky Way's gradient of light to ensure they keep rolling their balls in a straight line. The beetles' ability to orient themselves using this method has been proven, giving them an advantage in navigating their environment.
African ball-rolling insects guide themselves along straight paths under starlit skies but lose orientation under overcast conditions. Dung beetles exploit celestial cues like the Milky Way for navigation, suggesting other nocturnal insects might follow suit.
Astronomers have discovered hundreds of previously-unknown sites of massive star formation in the Milky Way, including the most distant such objects yet found. These regions serve as markers of the Galaxy's structure and help refine its understanding.
Astronomers have identified a new structure in the Milky Way, a long tendril of dust and gas dubbed a 'bone'. This feature is part of a web connecting spiral arms and is similar to fibulae found in human skeletons.
Astronomers have discovered a microquasar in the Andromeda Galaxy, a black hole devouring material from a companion star. The discovery provides opportunities for detailed studies to unravel the mystery of microquasars and their physics.
Astronomers have found a galaxy whose light traveled 13.3 billion years to reach Earth, offering a glimpse into the universe's early stages. The newly discovered galaxy, MACS0647-JD, is only a tiny fraction of the size of our Milky Way and may be one of many building blocks of a galaxy.
Researchers have discovered a narrow stellar stream in the southern Galactic sky, believed to be the remnant of an ancient star cluster being ingested by the Milky Way. This finding provides new insight into how galaxies form and evolve through hierarchical merging of smaller galaxies and star clusters.
Centaurus A, a well-known elliptical galaxy, has been found to harbor a gassy spiral in its center, defying traditional classifications. The discovery was made possible by the use of the Submillimeter Array radio telescope, which revealed two distinct spiral arms within the galaxy's core.
The study reveals a massive halo of hot gas extending hundreds of thousands of light-years around the Milky Way, with an estimated mass of over 10 billion suns. The discovery may solve the long-standing 'missing baryon' problem in galaxy research.
Researchers discovered two galaxies identical to the Milky Way and its companion clouds, a rare occurrence. The Galaxy and Mass Assembly survey revealed these 'twin' galaxies, which are expected to be very rare due to complex cosmic interactions.
Astronomers have discovered that the Milky Way's stars are moving in unexpected ways, suggesting a recent encounter with a small galaxy or dark matter structure. The team found a north-south asymmetry in the distribution of stars, which may be caused by a vertical wave formed by the object's passage.
The chance alignment of galaxies NGC 3314A and NGC 3314B shows a unique view of their spiral arms and dust lanes. The motion of the galaxies indicates they are not on a collision course, with NGC 3314A's warped shape likely due to an encounter with another nearby galaxy.
The Milky Way is destined for a head-on collision with the Andromeda galaxy in 4 billion years. Computer simulations show that stars will be thrown into different orbits around the new galactic center, and our solar system may be tossed farther from the core.
Research suggests hundreds of billions of free-floating, Earth-sized life-bearing planets exist between stars in the Milky Way. These 'missing mass' planets could mix cosmic primordial life on a galaxy-wide scale.
Astronomers at Queen's University Belfast have gathered direct evidence of a supermassive black hole shredding a star that wandered too close. The discovery provides insights into the harsh environment around black holes and the types of stars swirling around them.
Astronomers have discovered a group of over 675 hypervelocity stars on the outskirts of the Milky Way, which are believed to have been ejected from the galactic core. These stars, found in intergalactic space between the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxy, exhibit high metallicity indicating an inner galactic origin.
The Allen Telescope Array will continue searching for intelligent life in space and monitoring space debris under new management by SRI International. The facility will also support the SETI Institute's efforts to detect signals from newly discovered exoplanets.
New research reveals that supermassive black holes can double in mass by ripping apart double-star systems and swallowing one of the stars. This process is thought to be the dominant method for growing these massive objects.
A University of Utah astrophysicist has proposed that supermassive black holes in galaxy centers grow by consuming single stars from wandering binary pairs. The study found that this process is an efficient way to bring stars close to black holes, outperforming gas clouds as a growth mechanism.
Researchers have identified hypervelocity planets and stars that are ejected from the Milky Way at millions of miles per hour due to their close interaction with a massive black hole. The study suggests that these high-speed objects can provide valuable insights into planetary formation and evolution near the central black hole.
Astronomers captured a unique image of over 10,000 stars in the Milky Way's centre, revealing large structures like gas and dust clouds. The image, created by combining infra-red light data from two telescopes, offers new insights into the galaxy's structure.
A team led by UCLA researcher Michael Rich has discovered a previously unknown dwarf galaxy near NGC 4449, which is 12.5 million light years from Earth. The newly found galaxy, NGC 4449B, is the largest known dwarf galaxy in the local group and has been stretched into a 'S' shape due to gravitational encounter.
The study suggests a massive cloud of trillions of asteroids and comets surrounds Sgr A*, where they are vaporized by friction as they pass through the hot gas flowing onto the black hole. The flares observed by Chandra could be explained by the frequent collision of asteroids with the black hole.
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics have created a high-precision map of the Milky Way's magnetic field using radio observations from over 30 researchers and 41,000 measurements. The map reveals both large-scale and small-scale features of the Galactic magnetic field, including turbulence in the gas.
Astronomers are observing a unique opportunity to study how a black hole gulps gas, dust, and stars as it grows bigger. The gas cloud is currently 550 Kelvin or 280 degrees Celsius and will be ripped apart by the tidal forces around the black hole.
Researchers have discovered that ancient stars in the Milky Way's halo contain abnormally large amounts of heavy elements like gold and uranium. By analyzing the motions of these stars, they found evidence suggesting that exploding supernovae may have sent jets of enriched gas into space, creating the heavy-element rich stars.
A supercomputer simulation by University of Pittsburgh researcher Christopher W. Purcell suggests that the Milky Way's spiral arms were triggered by a collision with the Sagittarius Dwarf galaxy. The impact stripped off 80-90% of the dark matter halo, producing instabilities that eventually formed the spiral arms and ring structures.
Researchers discover that a dwarf galaxy may have created the Milky Way's spiral arms through a collision with our galaxy. Astronomer Curtis Struck cautions that these collisions can have significant effects on galaxy growth and evolution.
Researchers at UC Irvine discovered that the Milky Way's spiral arms are a result of an intergalactic collision course with a dwarf galaxy named Sagittarius. The force of the impact sent stars streaming from both galaxies into long loops, which were then swelled and tugged outward by the Milky Way's rotation.
Astronomers propose a new way to search for supernova precursors by studying the spin of white dwarfs. This process could lead to a time delay of up to a billion years before the explosion, allowing for detection by upcoming surveys.
Researchers at University of California, Santa Cruz and Institute for Theoretical Physics in Zurich simulate formation of massive spiral galaxy like Milky Way, resolving key features with high-resolution simulation. The result supports prevailing cold dark matter theory, which predicts galaxies form within dark matter halos.
A new study by Nicolas Lehner and Christopher Howk reveals that massive clouds of ionized gas in the Milky Way's halo are a reservoir of fuel for galactic star formation. The researchers measured the distances to these clouds using the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope, confirming models that predicted gas falli...
The discovery of blue stragglers in the Milky Way's hub suggests that the galaxy stopped making stars billions of years ago. The findings provide new constraints for models of the star-formation history of the bulge.
The Milky Way belongs to a rare subset of galaxies with two satellites as bright and close by as the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. Researchers analyzed over 20,000 galaxies similar to the Milky Way using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey data.
Researchers found that just four percent of galaxies are similar to the Milky Way, with two satellites as bright and close by as the Magellanic Clouds. The study used data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and computer simulations to understand how the Milky Way fits into the broader context of the universe.
Astronomer Heidi Newberg is using a new $382,000 NSF grant to map the distribution of dark matter in our galaxy. She will utilize the massive computing power of the international MilkyWay@Home project to simulate how stars in stellar streams got to their current positions.
Scientists have extended a directly-measured 'yardstick' three times farther into the cosmos using the super-sharp radio vision of the VLBA. New measurements have placed a galaxy at 450 million light-years from Earth, with implications for understanding Dark Energy and the expansion rate of the Universe.
Researchers develop method to locate satellite galaxies based on hydrogen gas distribution, predicting Galaxy X's mass and location. The technique has broad implications for dark matter detection and alternative gravity theories.
The telescope discovered two gamma-ray-emitting bubbles that span 50,000 light-years north and south of the galactic center
Astronomers using space telescopes have discovered a previously unknown brilliant X-ray explosion in the Milky Way galaxy, named MAXI J1409-619. The object, a binary system, was revealed to be emitting massive blasts of X-rays after being detected by an instrument on the International Space Station.
A new computer simulation by Gurtina Besla and her colleagues shows that the Magellanic Stream resulted from a past close encounter between the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, rather than the Milky Way's gravity. The study challenges traditional models of galaxy formation.
Two Iowa State University astronomers are using Spitzer Space Telescope data to study big cool-temperature stars and dusty disks. The telescope is also identifying regions within the Milky Way that are forming intermediate-mass stars.
Physicists have discovered evidence of natural nuclear accelerators at work in the Milky Way galaxy, based on an analysis of data from the world's largest cosmic ray detector. The researchers found that stellar explosions in our own galaxy can accelerate both protons and nuclei, explaining the origin of ultra-high-energy nuclei.