It’s not officially summer yet on the northern half of Earth, but our skies are beginning to look like summer. On these June evenings, find the large pattern of the Summer Triangle ascending in the east. It’s made of the 3 bright stars Vega, Deneb and Altair Source: https://earthsky.org/favorite-star-patterns/summer-triangle-asterism-vega-deneb-altair…
Tag: Milky Way Galaxy
Word of the week: Ecliptic
The ecliptic is the path the sun takes across our sky. It’s the Earth-sun plane, and, more or less, the plane of our solar system. Stargazing tip: Learn the whereabouts of the ecliptic in your sky. You’ll always find the sun, moon and planets on or near it. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/definition-ecliptic-what-is-the-ecliptic…
A massive collision in the Milky Way’s past
Our Milky Way galaxy has probably collided or otherwise interacted with other galaxies during its lifetime; such interactions are common cosmic occurrences. Astronomers can deduce the history of mass accretion onto the Milky Way from a study of debris in the halo of the galaxy left as the tidal residue of such episodes. The approach has worked particularly well for studies…
Arcturus cuts through the galaxy’s disk
Arcturus isn’t moving solely within the flat disk of our Milky Way galaxy. It’s cutting perpendicularly through the disk. Millions of years from now, it’ll be lost from view, at least for those who are earthbound and looking with the eye alone. Source: https://earthsky.org/brightest-stars/bright-orange-arcturus-use-the-big-dipper-to-find-it…
Star formation burst created 50% of Milky Way disk stars
Analysis of data from the Gaia satellite shows a powerful burst of star formation – a stellar baby boom – in our Milky Way galaxy 2 to 3 billion years ago. This single burst might have created half the stars in the galaxy’s flat disk. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/star-formation-burst-created-50-of-milky-way-disk-stars…
Why can’t I find the Milky Way in May?
From the Northern Hemisphere now, the plane of the Milky Way is as parallel to your horizon as it can be, in early evening. Just wait. Around midnight, the starry band of the Milky Way will begin ascending in your eastern sky. Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/milky-way-galaxy-flat-around-horizon-may…
Pinpointing Gaia to enable the most accurate map ever of more than a billion stars
Gaia, operated by the European Space Agency (ESA, surveys the sky from orbit to create the largest, most precise, three-dimensional map of our Galaxy. One year ago, the Gaia mission produced its much-awaited second data release, which included high-precision measurements—positions, distance and proper motions—of more than one billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy. This catalogue has enabled transformational studies in…
Arc to Arcturus, spike to Spica
Learn a phrase useful to sky watchers: Follow the arc to Arcturus and drive a spike (or speed on) to Spica. Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/follow-the-arc-to-arcturus-in-may…
Black hole’s gravity seen tugging on nearby space
“We were gobsmacked by what we saw in this system. It was completely unexpected … It tells us a little more about that big question: ‘How did we get here?'” Source: https://earthsky.org/space/black-hole-v404-cygni-jets-drag-on-nearby-space…
Gaia’s first asteroid discoveries
While scanning the sky to chart a billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy, ESA’s Gaia satellite is also sensitive to celestial bodies closer to home, and regularly observes asteroids in our solar system. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-04-gaia-asteroid-discoveries.html…