The Milky Way’s central molecular zone (CMZ) spans the innermost 1600 light-years of the galaxy (for comparison, the Sun is 26,600 light-years away from the galactic center) and includes a vast complex of molecular clouds containing about sixty million solar-masses of molecular gas. The gas in these clouds exists under more extreme physical conditions than elsewhere in the galaxy on average,…
Tag: galactic center
What is the Milky Way?
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…
Why are the stars so bright tonight?
In late December – and in January and February – our evening sky faces away from the Milky Way’s star-rich center. We look toward the depths of space beyond our galaxy’s boundaries and toward some close, bright stars in our local spiral arm. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/star-seasonal-appearance-brightness…
The Milky Way is probably full of dead civilizations
If there are other intelligent civilizations in the Milky Way, they are probably much closer than we are to the galactic center, and fairly young. Source: https://www.livescience.com/milky-way-alien-life-map.html
How the world came to understand black holes
Earlier this month, Roger Penrose, Reinhard Genzel, and Andrea Ghez split the 2020 physics Nobel Prize for decades of work on black holes. Click here to learn more about their monumental achievement and about the history of our understanding of these exotic objects in space. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/nobel-prize-3-astrophysicists-black-holess-penrose-genzel-ghez…
What is a galaxy?
We live in a galaxy called the Milky Way. But there is so much more to know about these grand and glorious star islands in space! Click in here, and prepare to have your mind expanded. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/definition-what-is-a-galaxy…
Scientists probe dark matter in a virtual universe
The new work reveals dark matter haloes as active regions of the sky, teeming with not only galaxies, but also radiation-emitting collisions that could make it possible to find dark matter haloes in the real sky. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/supercomputer-study-zoom-in-dark-matter-haloes…
Search for ETs among 10 million stars comes up empty
Astronomers used a radio telescope in Australia to search for artificial radio signals among 10 million stars. The search came up empty. But, they say, that’s not bad news for those hoping to find intelligent extraterrestrials. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/search-for-extraterrestrial-intelligence-10-million-stars…
Earth’s night sky as Milky Way and Andromeda merge
Billions of years from now, Earth’s night sky will change as the Andromeda galaxy rushes toward a merger with the Milky Way. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/earths-night-sky-milky-way-andromeda-merge…
Sagittarius? Here’s your constellation
How to find Sagittarius on August evenings, plus the lore and science of this constellation. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/sagittarius-heres-your-constellation…