Astronomers announced this month that a new deep-field survey called JADES will be carried out with the James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble’s much-anticipated successor. The Webb is due to launch later this year. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/jades-deep-field-surveys-epoch-of-1st-galaxies…
Tag: Nearby galaxies
Astronomers unmask cosmic eruptions in nearby galaxies
A brief burst of high-energy light swept through the solar system on April 15, triggering many space-based instruments, including those aboard NASA and European missions. Now, multiple international science teams conclude that the blast came from a supermagnetized stellar remnant known as a magnetar located in a neighboring galaxy. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-01-astronomers-unmask-cosmic-eruptions-nearby.html…
Astronomers find signature of magnetar outbursts in nearby galaxies
Apart from black holes, magnetars may be the most extreme stars in the universe. With a diameter less than the length of Manhattan, they pack more mass than that of our sun, wield the largest magnetic field of any known object—more than 10 trillion times stronger than a refrigerator magnet—and spin on their axes every few seconds. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-01-astronomers-signature-magnetar-outbursts-nearby.html…
How nearby galaxies form their stars
Stars are born in dense clouds of molecular hydrogen gas that permeates interstellar space of most galaxies. While the physics of star formation is complex, recent years have seen substantial progress towards understanding how stars form in a galactic environment. What ultimately determines the level of star formation in galaxies, however, remains an open question. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-12-nearby-galaxies-stars.html…
For 3rd data release, Gaia gazed toward galactic anticenter
The 3rd data release from the Gaia mission will provide astronomers with a “treasure trove” of information they didn’t have before. As they analyze Gaia’s data in the years ahead, we’re sure to learn new and surprising things about our home galaxy, the Milky Way. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/gaia-3rd-data-release-edr3-dec-2020…
Metal-poor globular cluster forces astronomers to rethink theories
The discovery of the most metal-poor globular cluster recorded to date has forced scientists to rethink how both galaxies and globular clusters form. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/metal-poor-globular-cluster-ext8-found-in-andromeda-galaxy…
How many ETs are in our galaxy? Ask the Alien Civilization Calculator
Researchers at Omni Calculator have created the Alien Civilization Calculator, a unique combination of two different methods of trying to determine how many advanced alien civilizations may exist in our galaxy. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/alien-civilization-calculator-extraterrestrial-intelligence-seti…
Astronomers Have Finally Found the Edge of the Milky Way
Iwastheone quotes Science News:
Astronomers have long known that the brightest part of the Milky Way, the pancake-shaped disk of stars that houses the sun, is some 120,000 light-years across. Beyond this stellar disk is a disk of gas. A vast halo of dark matter, presumably full of invisible particles, engulfs both disks and stretches far beyond them. But because the dark…
What is dark matter?
Dark matter doesn’t emit light. It can’t be directly observed with any of the existing tools of astronomers. Yet astrophysicists believe it and dark energy make up most of the mass of the cosmos. What dark matter is, and what it isn’t. here. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/definition-what-is-dark-matter…