When someone says “Milky Way,” do you think of the starry pathway across our sky, or of the great pinwheel-shaped galaxy in space? Both are correct! Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/what-is-the-milky-way-galaxy…
Tag: dwarf galaxy
What is the Sickle in Leo?
The Sickle in Leo is an easy-to-spot backward question mark shape made of stars that marks the head and shoulders of the constellation of the lion. The moon sometimes passes in front of the Sickle’s brightest star, Regulus. Source: https://earthsky.org/favorite-star-patterns/the-sickle-backward-question-mark-pattern-in-leo…
New Milky Way family tree reveals a chaotic history
Scientists in Germany have created a new family tree of our Milky Way galaxy, showing how it has grown over billions of years from chaotic mergers with smaller galaxies. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/milky-way-family-tree-progenitor-galaxy-collisions-kraken…
Evidence of broadside collision with dwarf galaxy discovered in Milky Way
Nearly 3 billion years ago, a dwarf galaxy plunged into the center of the Milky Way and was ripped apart by the gravitational forces of the collision. Astrophysicists announced today that the merger produced a series of telltale shell-like formations of stars in the vicinity of the Virgo constellation, the first such “shell structures” to be found in the Milky Way….
Astronomers identify 18 metal-poor stars in the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) astronomers have detected 18 very metal-poor stars in the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy. They found that one of the stars from the sample has an extremely low metallicity, slightly below -3.0. The study was reported in a paper published August 22 on the arXiv preprint repository. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-09-astronomers-metal-poor-stars-sagittarius-dwarf.html…
Image: Hubble captures one galaxy, two asteroids
At first sight, this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope portrays the sparkling stars of AGC111977, a dwarf galaxy located around 15 million light years away and visible in the lower left part of the image. Other galaxies appear sprinkled across the frame, along with foreground stars from our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-07-image-hubble-captures-galaxy-asteroids.html…
A cosmic mystery: Very Large Telescope captures the disappearance of a massive star
Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have discovered the absence of an unstable massive star in a dwarf galaxy. Scientists think this could indicate that the star became less bright and partially obscured by dust. An alternative explanation is that the star collapsed into a black hole without producing a supernova. “If true,” says team leader and…
Did galactic crash trigger solar system formation?
The formation of the sun, the solar system and the subsequent emergence of life on Earth may be a consequence of a collision between our galaxy – the Milky Way – and a smaller galaxy called Sagittarius. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/galactic-crash-milky-way-sagittarius-trigger-solar-system-formation…
Meet Regulus, the Lion’s Heart
The bright star Regulus is very prominent in the evening sky in May. It looks like a single point of light, but is really 4 stars. It’s the brightest star in the constellation Leo the Lion. Source: https://earthsky.org/brightest-stars/best-regulus-the-heart-of-the-lion…
Tarantula Nebula seen through the eyes of Spitzer
Stunning new Spitzer Space Telescope image of the Tarantula Nebula in the nearby Large Magellanic Cloud dwarf galaxy. Spitzer ended its 16-year mission on January 30. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/tarantula-nebula-spitzer-telescope-image…