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The dwarf galaxy Mrk 462. (Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Dartmouth Coll./J. Parker & R. Hickox; Optical/IR: Pan-STARRS) A newly discovered “mini” supermassive black hole could help reveal some of the secrets behind the biggest black holes in the cosmos. Researchers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory recently discovered a monstrous black hole that was “buried” in dust … Read more
In a nearby galaxy, a rare kind of dead star erupted into a giant outburst. This in itself may not be so peculiar; but, for the first time, changes in its brightness during this event have been documented in detail, giving scientists a window into understanding the processes that produce these colossal flares. The … Read more
By Abigail Beall NASA/CXC/SAO/P. Plucinsky et al. THE first week of the new year brings us a new moon, and the perfect time to hunt for the fainter objects in the night sky. I will be looking to spot a galaxy called Triangulum, or M33, which can be seen from anywhere in the world with … Read more
In 2014, amateur astronomers in New Zealand glimpsed a flare of light emanating from the constellation of Centauri. NASA later confirmed this blaze was a massive supernova explosion from another galaxy an incredible 57 million light-years away from our Milky Way. “Dedicated amateur astronomers often make intriguing discoveries – particularly of fleeting astronomical phenomena … Read more
This small cluster of stars packs quite a visual morsel. On Dec. 20, 2021, the team behind the Hubble Space Telescope published an image taken by the iconic observatory when it was looking towards the constellation Dorado in the southern sky. Astronomers refer to this stellar gathering as NGC 1755. The open star cluster “resembles … Read more
The forthcoming launch of the James Webb Space Telescope offers unprecedented new opportunities for astronomers. It’s also a timely opportunity to reflect on what previous generations of telescopes have shown us. Astronomers rarely use their telescopes to simply take pictures. The pictures in astrophysics are usually generated by a process of scientific inference and … Read more
Astronomers have found yet another ghostly galaxy that appears to be devoid of dark matter. Researchers have reported several such sightings over the past few years, each time flagging so-called ultradiffuse galaxies that can be as large as the Milky Way but relatively bereft of stars. This latest object, known as AGC 114905, is similar … Read more
From Earth’s vantage point in one of the Milky Way’s spiral arms, the structure of our galaxy is pretty difficult to reconstruct. That’s because gauging the distance to something in space when you don’t know its intrinsic brightness is really, really hard. And there are a lot of objects in the Milky Way whose brightness … Read more
By Thomas Lewton A galaxy passes through other galaxies in a group known as Stephan’s quintet X-ray (NASA/CXC/CfA/E.O’Sullivan); Optical (Canada-France-Hawaii-Telescope/Coelum) HUMANS have always been captivated by the Milky Way. To the ancient Greeks, it was a squirt of breast milk, while the Mayan farmers of Mesoamerica saw it as a growing maize stalk. Today, astronomers … Read more
A new Hubble Space Telescope image of a spiral galaxy shows sparkling stars, including a couple that snuck into the foreground. The telescope captured UGC 11537, a galaxy 230 million light-years away in the constellation Aquila; the galaxy sits at almost 10 times the distance to the spectacular Andromeda Galaxy (M31) that is just barely … Read more