Are stars still forming in the Milky Way’s satellite galaxies? Source: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html…
Tag: Milky Way
The solar system follows the galactic standard—but it is a rare breed
Researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, have investigated more than 1000 planetary systems orbiting stars in our own galaxy, the Milky Way, and have discovered a series of connections between planetary orbits, number of planets, occurrence and the distance to their stars. It turns out that our own solar system in some ways is very rare, and in…
Researchers Calculate Earth is 2,000 Light-years Closer to the Milky Way’s Black Hole
“Earth just got 7 km/s faster and about 2000 light-years closer to the supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy,” reports Phys.org: But don’t worry, this doesn’t mean that our planet is plunging towards the black hole. Instead the changes are results of a better model of the Milky Way Galaxy based on new observation data, including…
Earth faster, closer to black hole in new map of galaxy
Earth just got 7 km/s faster and about 2000 light-years closer to the supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. But don’t worry, this doesn’t mean that our planet is plunging towards the black hole. Instead the changes are results of a better model of the Milky Way Galaxy based on new observation data, including a catalog…
Galaxy encounter violently disturbed Milky Way, study finds
The spiral-shaped disk of stars and planets is being pulled, twisted and deformed with extreme violence by the gravitational force of a smaller galaxy—the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-11-galaxy-encounter-violently-disturbed-milky.html…
Will SpaceX’s Starlink satellites ruin stargazing?
SpaceX’s satellites will populate the night sky, affecting how we observe the stars. And this is just the beginning of private satellite mega-constellations. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/will-spacex-starlink-satellites-ruin-stargazing…
Astronomers discover new ‘fossil galaxy’ buried deep within the Milky Way
Scientists working with data from the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys’ Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) have discovered a “fossil galaxy” hidden in the depths of our own Milky Way. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-11-astronomers-fossil-galaxy-deep-milky.html…
The 1st intentional radio message to space was sent via Arecibo
Iconic Arecibo telescope is now slated for decommissioning. But its multi-faceted legacy will live on. In 1974, for example, Arecibo sent earthlings’ first intentional message to the cosmos. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/this-date-in-science-first-radio-signal-beamed-to-space…
Astronomers’ success: Seven new cosmic masers
A group of astronomers from Toruń in Poland have successfully completed a survey of the Milky Way plane. They searched for gas clouds, where there was a maser reinforcement of the OH molecule. They saw seven new sources – each of them brings scientists closer to the process by which massive stars are born. “It is like listening to the buzzing…
Newfound ‘Kraken merger’ may have been the biggest collision in Milky Way’s history
Astronomers have discovered a previously unknown galactic collision between the Milky Way and the mysterious ‘Kraken galaxy.’ Source: https://www.livescience.com/milky-way-ancient-kraken-merger.html