ScienceDaily: Galaxy News

Galaxy's 'burning ring of fire' is frenetic region of star formation

Thu, 16 May 2013 16:53:53 EDT

Johnny Cash may have preferred this galaxy's burning ring of fire to the one he sang about falling into in his popular song. The "starburst ring" seen at center of a new image in red and yellow hues is not the product of love, as in the song, but is instead a frenetic region of star formation. The galaxy, a spiral beauty called Messier 94, is located about 17 million light-years away.

Black hole powered jets plow into galaxy

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:14:14 EDT

The intense gravity of a supermassive black hole can be tapped to produce immense power in the form of jets moving at millions of miles per hour.

Hubble tells a tale of galactic collisions

Sun, 12 May 2013 14:53:53 EDT

When we look into the distant cosmos, the great majority of the objects we see are galaxies: immense gatherings of stars, planets, gas, dust, and dark matter, showing up in all kind of shapes. A new Hubble picture registers several, but the galaxy catalogued as 2MASX J05210136-2521450 stands out at a glance due to its interesting shape.

Astronomers discover surprising clutch of hydrogen clouds lurking among our galactic neighbors

Wed, 08 May 2013 13:17:17 EDT

In a dark, starless patch of intergalactic space, astronomers have discovered a never-before-seen cluster of hydrogen clouds strewn between two nearby galaxies, Andromeda (M31) and Triangulum (M33). The researchers speculate that these rarefied blobs of gas -- each about as massive as a dwarf galaxy -- condensed out of a vast and as-yet undetected reservoir of hot, ionized gas, which could have accompanied an otherwise invisible band of dark matter.

Milky Way black hole snacks on hot gas

Tue, 07 May 2013 20:15:15 EDT

The Herschel space observatory has made detailed observations of surprisingly hot gas that may be orbiting or falling towards the supermassive black hole lurking at the center of our Milky Way galaxy.

Hubble sees the remains of a star gone supernova

Mon, 06 May 2013 16:16:16 EDT

A new image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows delicate wisps of gas that make up an object known as SNR B0519-69.0, or SNR 0519 for short. The thin, blood-red shells are actually the remnants from when an unstable progenitor star exploded violently as a supernova around 600 years ago. There are several types of supernovae, but for SNR 0519 the star that exploded is known to have been a white dwarf star -- a Sun-like star in the final stages of its life.

Hubble sees the remains of a star gone supernova

Fri, 03 May 2013 15:15:15 EDT

These delicate wisps of gas make up an object known as SNR B0519-69.0, or SNR 0519 for short. The thin, blood-red shells are actually the remnants from when an unstable progenitor star exploded violently as a supernova around 600 years ago. There are several types of supernovae, but for SNR 0519 the star that exploded is known to have been a white dwarf star -- a sun-like star in the final stages of its life.

Colossal hot cloud envelopes colliding galaxies

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:15:15 EDT

Scientists have completed a detailed study of an enormous cloud of hot gas enveloping two large, colliding galaxies. This unusually large reservoir of gas contains as much mass as 10 billion Suns, spans about 300,000 light years, and radiates at a temperature of more than 7 million degrees.

Entire galaxies feel the heat from newborn stars: Bursts of star birth can curtail future galaxy growth

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 10:33:33 EDT

Astronomers have shown for the first time that bursts of star formation have a major impact far beyond the boundaries of their host galaxy. These energetic events can affect galactic gas at distances of up to twenty times greater than the visible size of the galaxy -- altering how the galaxy evolves, and how matter and energy is spread throughout the Universe.

Galaxy goes green in burning stellar fuel

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 15:37:37 EDT

Astronomers have spotted the "greenest" of galaxies, one that converts fuel into stars with almost 100-percent efficiency. The findings come from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the IRAM Plateau de Bure interferometer in the French Alps.

Hubble sees a unique cluster: One of the hidden 15

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 10:13:13 EDT

Palomar 2 is part of a group of 15 globulars known as the Palomar clusters. These clusters, as the name suggests, were discovered in survey plates from the first Palomar Observatory Sky Survey in the 1950s, a project that involved some of the most well-known astronomers of the day, including Edwin Hubble. They were discovered quite late because they are so faint -- each is either extremely remote, very heavily hidden behind blankets of dust, or has a very small number of remaining stars.

Astronomers discover massive star factory in early universe

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 16:49:49 EDT

A team of astronomers has discovered a dust-filled, massive galaxy churning out stars when the cosmos was a mere 880 million years old -- making it the earliest starburst galaxy ever observed.

Massive galaxy had intense burst of star formation when universe was only 6 percent of current age

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 13:18:18 EDT

Astronomers find the most prolific star factory yet seen, in a far-distant galaxy that reveals important information about the cosmic environment in the early history of the Universe.

ALMA telescope pinpoints early galaxies at record speed

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 09:20:20 EDT

Astronomers have used the new ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) telescope to pinpoint the locations of over 100 of the most fertile star-forming galaxies in the early Universe.

Discovery of a blue supergiant star born in the wild

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 19:42:42 EDT

Astronomers have discovered a blue supergiant star located far beyond our Milky Way Galaxy in the constellation Virgo. Over 55 million years ago, the star emerged in an extremely wild environment, surrounded by intensely hot plasma (a million degrees centigrade) and amidst raging cyclone winds blowing at four million kilometers per hour.

Hubble sees light and dust in a nearby starburst galaxy

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 14:39:39 EDT

The Hubble Space Telescope has taken an image of a small, sparkling hook in the dark sky -- a beautiful object is known as J082354.96+280621.6, or J082354.96 for short. It is a starburst galaxy, so named because of the incredibly (and unusually) high rate of star formation occurring within it.

Green Pea galaxies could help astronomers understand early universe

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 14:14:14 EDT

The rare Green Pea galaxies discovered by the general public in 2007 could help confirm astronomers' understanding of reionization, a pivotal stage in the evolution of the early universe.

Taken under the 'wing' of the small magellanic cloud: First detection of X-ray emission from young stars with masses similar to our Sun outside our Milky Way galaxy

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 10:42:42 EDT

The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is one of the Milky Way's closest galactic neighbors. In fact, it was so bright that many navigators used this object to make their way across the oceans. A new composite image shows this galaxy like Ferdinand Magellan, who lends his name to the SMC, could never have imagined. New Chandra data of the SMC have provided the first detection of X-ray emission from young stars with masses similar to our Sun outside our Milky Way galaxy.

New insights on how spiral galaxies get their arms

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 12:48:48 EDT

Spiral galaxies are some of the most beautiful and photogenic residents of the universe. Our own Milky Way is a spiral. Our solar system and Earth reside somewhere near one of its filamentous arms. And nearly 70 percent of the galaxies closest to the Milky Way are spirals. But despite their common shape, how galaxies like ours get and maintain their characteristic arms has proved to be an enduring puzzle in astrophysics.

Sprial galaxy: Hidden depths of Messier 77 revealed

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 12:51:51 EDT

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured this vivid image of spiral galaxy Messier 77, one of the most famous and well-studied galaxies in the sky. The patches of red across this image highlight pockets of star formation along the pinwheeling arms, with dark dust lanes stretching across the galaxy's energetic center.

Young, hot and blue: Stars in the cluster NGC 2547

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 09:27:27 EDT

The Universe is an old neighborhood -- roughly 13.8 billion years old. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is also ancient -- some of its stars are more than 13 billion years old (eso0425). Nevertheless, there is still a lot of action: new objects form and others are destroyed. In a new image, you can see some of the newcomers, the young stars forming the cluster NGC 2547.

Hubble digs up galactic glow worm

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 09:51:51 EDT

The image of a charming and bright galaxy, known as IRAS 23436+5257, was captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. It is located in the northern constellation of Cassiopeia, which is named after an arrogant, vain, and yet beautiful mythical queen.

'Sideline quasars' helped to stifle early galaxy formation

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 11:10:10 EDT

Astronomers targeting one of the brightest quasars glowing in the universe some 11 billion years ago say "sideline quasars" likely teamed up with it to heat abundant helium gas billions of years ago, preventing small galaxy formation.

Spiral beauty graced by fading supernova

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 09:52:52 EDT

About 35 million light-years from Earth, in the constellation of Eridanus (The River), lies the spiral galaxy NGC 1637. Back in 1999 the serene appearance of this galaxy was shattered by the appearance of a very bright supernova. Astronomers studying the aftermath of this explosion with ESO's Very Large Telescope at the Paranal Observatory in Chile have provided us with a stunning view of this relatively nearby galaxy.

Famous supernova reveals clues about crucial cosmic distance markers

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 13:11:11 EDT

A new study using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory points to the origin of a famous supernova. This supernova, discovered in 1604 by Johannes Kepler, belongs to an important class of objects that are used to measure the rate of expansion of the Universe.

Hubble gazes on one ring to rule them all

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 10:36:36 EDT

Galaxies can take many forms -- elliptical blobs, swirling spiral arms, bulges, and disks are all known components of the wide range of galaxies we have observed using telescopes like the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. However, some of the more intriguing objects in the sky around us include ring galaxies like the one pictured in a new image -- Zw II 28.

A youthful 'star wreck': Youngest-known supernova remnants in our Milky Way galaxy

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 15:13:13 EDT

While performing an extensive X-ray survey of our galaxy's central regions, NASA's Swift satellite has uncovered the previously unknown remains of a shattered star. Designated G306.3.9 after the coordinates of its sky position, the new object ranks among the youngest-known supernova remnants in our Milky Way galaxy.

'Monster' starburst galaxies discovered in early universe

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 14:25:25 EDT

Astronomers have discovered starburst galaxies earlier in the Universe's history than they were previously thought to have existed. These newly discovered galaxies represent what today's most massive galaxies looked like in their energetic, star-forming youth.

Rewriting history of Universe's stellar baby boom: Ancient, highly active galaxies discovered

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 14:25:25 EDT

New observations show that the most vigorous bursts of star birth in the cosmos took place much earlier than previously thought.

Astronomers discover extremely rare triple quasar

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 09:25:25 EDT

For only the second time in history, astronomers have discovered an extremely rare triple quasar system. Quasars are extremely bright and powerful sources of energy that sit in the center of a galaxy, surrounding a black hole. In systems with multiple quasars, the bodies are held together by gravity and are believed to be the product of galaxies colliding.

Blue bursts of hot young stars captured by Hubble

Mon, 11 Mar 2013 14:45:45 EDT

A new Hubble image, speckled with blue, white and yellow light, shows part of the spiral galaxy IC 5052. Surrounded in the image by foreground stars in our own galaxy, and distant galaxies beyond, it emits a bright blue-white glow which highlights its narrow, intricate structure. It is viewed side-on in the constellation of Pavo (The Peacock), in the southern sky.

Astronomers find 'lost' supernova

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 16:16:16 EST

Supernova explosions of massive stars are common in spiral galaxies like the Milky Way, where new stars are forming all the time. They are almost never seen in elliptical galaxies where star formation has nearly ceased. As a result, astronomers were surprised to find a young-looking supernova in an old galaxy.

Hubble finds 'birth certificate' of oldest known star

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 14:51:51 EST

Astronomers have taken an important step closer to finding the birth certificate of a star that's been around for a very long time. The star could be as old as 14.5 billion years (plus or minus 0.8 billion years), which at first glance would make it older than the universe's calculated age of about 13.8 billion years, an obvious dilemma.

Universe measured more accurately than ever before: New results pin down distance to galaxy next door

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:40:40 EST

After nearly a decade of careful observations astronomers have measured the distance to our neighboring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, more accurately than ever before. This new measurement also improves our knowledge of the rate of expansion of the Universe — the Hubble Constant — and is a crucial step towards understanding the nature of the mysterious dark energy that is causing the expansion to accelerate.

Gravitational telescope creates space invader mirage

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 10:09:09 EST

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is one of the most powerful available to astronomers, but sometimes it too needs a helping hand. This comes in the form of Einstein's general theory of relativity, which makes galaxy clusters act as natural lenses, amplifying the light coming from very distant galaxies.

Black hole collision may have sparked celestial fireworks in the Milky Way several million years ago

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 15:32:32 EST

There is growing evidence that several million years ago the center of the Milky Way galaxy was site of all manner of celestial fireworks and a pair of astronomers propose that a single event -- a black hole collision -- can explain all the “forensic” clues.

NASA's NuSTAR helps solve riddle of black hole spin

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 13:25:25 EST

Two X-ray space observatories, NASA's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton, have teamed up to measure definitively, for the first time, the spin rate of a black hole with a mass 2 million times that of our sun.

Journey to the limits of space-time: Black hole simulations on supercomputers present new view of jets and accretion disks

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 14:16:16 EST

Black holes shape the growth and death of the stars around them through their powerful gravitational pull and explosive ejections of energy. In a recent article, researchers predicted the formation of accretion disks and relativistic jets that warp and bend more than previously thought, shaped by the extreme gravity of the black hole and by powerful magnetic forces generated by its spin.

Simple view of gravity does not fully explain the distribution of stars in crowded clusters

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 16:36:36 EST

Gravity remains the dominant force on large astronomical scales, but when it comes to stars in young star clusters the dynamics in these crowded environments cannot be simply explained by the pull of gravity.

Sweeping dust from a cosmic lobster

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 08:47:47 EST

Located around 8000 light-years away in the constellation of Scorpius (The Scorpion), NGC 6357 -- sometimes nicknamed the Lobster Nebula due to its appearance in visible-light images -- is a region filled with vast clouds of gas and tendrils of dark dust. These clouds are forming stars, including massive hot stars which glow a brilliant blue-white in visible light.

3-D observations of the outflow from an active galactic nucleus

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 08:44:44 EST

Quasars are bright central regions of some distant galaxies. Their luminosities are often hundreds of times greater than those of their host galaxies (Note 2). Scientists believe that their light source is a very bright gaseous disk surrounding a supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy. Gas streams called "outflows" move outward from the disk and have a substantial influence on surrounding interstellar/intergalactic regions. However, because quasars at large distances look like mere stars, their internal structures are not easy to investigate.

Hubble sees cosmic 'flying v' of merging galaxies

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 19:39:39 EST

The Hubble Space Telescope has taken an image of a large "flying V" that is actually two distinct objects -- a pair of interacting galaxies known as IC 2184.

Predicting key property in Andromeda's satellites

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 12:06:06 EST

Using modified laws of gravity, researchers have closely predicted a key property -- velocity dispersion -- measured in faint dwarf galaxies that are satellites of the nearby giant spiral galaxy Andromeda.

Rare explosion created our galaxy's youngest black hole, study suggests

Wed, 13 Feb 2013 11:45:45 EST

New data suggest a highly distorted supernova remnant may contain the most recent black hole formed in the Milky Way galaxy. The remnant appears to be the product of a rare explosion in which matter is ejected at high speeds along the poles of a rotating star.

Hubble catches a streak of stars in side-on view of spiral galaxy

Sun, 10 Feb 2013 08:58:58 EST

The Hubble Space Telescope captured a thin, glittering streak of stars in a new view of the spiral galaxy ESO 121-6, which lies in the southern constellation of Pictor (The Painter's Easel). Viewed almost exactly side-on, the intricate structure of the swirling arms is hidden, but the full length of the galaxy can be seen -- including the intense glow from the central bulge, a dense region of tightly packed young stars sitting at the center of the spiral arms. Tendrils of dark dust can be seen across the frame, partially obscuring the bright center of the galaxy and continuing out towards the smattering of stars at its edges, where the dust lanes and shapes melt into the inky background. Numerous nearby stars and galaxies are visible as small smudges in the surrounding sky, and the brightest stars are dazzlingly prominent towards the bottom left of the image. ESO 121-6 is a galaxy with patchy, loosely-wound arms and a relatively faint central bulge. It actually belongs to a group of galaxies, a clump of no more than 50 similar structures all loosely bound to one another by gravity. The Milky Way is also a member of a galactic group, known as the Local Group.

The wings of the Seagull Nebula

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 09:47:47 EST

A new image from the European Southern Observatory shows a section of a cloud of dust and glowing gas called the Seagull Nebula. These wispy red clouds form part of the "wings" of the celestial bird and this picture reveals an intriguing mix of dark and glowing red clouds, weaving between bright stars.

Hubble catches the moment the lights went out

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 12:37:37 EST

The further away you look, the further back in time you see. Astronomers use this fact to study the evolution of the Universe by looking at nearby and more distant galaxies and comparing their features. Hubble is particularly well suited for this type of work because of its extremely high resolution and its position above the blurring effects of Earth's atmosphere. This has allowed it to detect many of the most distant galaxies known, as well as making detailed images of faraway objects.

A spiral galaxy with a secret

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 12:37:37 EST

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope -- with a little help from an amateur astronomer -- has produced one of the best views yet of nearby spiral galaxy Messier 106. Located a little over 20 million light-years away, practically a neighbor by cosmic standards, Messier 106 is one of the brightest and nearest spiral galaxies to our own.

Astronomers ask 'where are all the dwarf galaxies?'

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 09:03:03 EST

Astronomers have identified “Cosmic Web Stripping” as a new way of explaining the famous missing dwarf problem: the lack of observed dwarf galaxies compared with that predicted by the theory of Cold Dark Matter and Dark Energy.

New method of measuring the mass of supermassive black holes

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 13:23:23 EST

Astronomers report the exciting discovery of a new way to measure the mass of supermassive black holes in galaxies. By measuring the speed with which carbon monoxide molecules orbit around such black holes, this new research opens the possibility of making these measurements in many more galaxies than ever before.

Cool, new views of Andromeda galaxy

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 22:41:41 EST

Two new eye-catching views from the Herschel space observatory are fit for a princess. They show the elegant spiral galaxy Andromeda, named after the mythical Greek princess known for her beauty.

Hubble finds appearances can be deceptive: Looking at the stars in NGC 411

Sat, 26 Jan 2013 09:29:29 EST

Globular clusters are roughly spherical collections of extremely old stars, and around 150 of them are scattered around our galaxy. Hubble is one of the best telescopes for studying these, as its extremely high resolution lets astronomers see individual stars, even in the crowded core. The clusters all look very similar, and in Hubble's images it can be quite hard to tell them apart -- and they all look much like NGC 411. And yet appearances can be deceptive: NGC 411 is in fact not a globular cluster, and its stars are not old. It isn't even in the Milky Way.

How the universe has cooled since the Big Bang fits Big Bang theory

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 10:16:16 EST

Astronomers have taken the universe's temperature, and have found that it has cooled down just the way the Big Bang theory predicts.

Hubble focuses on the 'Great Attractor'

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 11:24:24 EST

A busy patch of space has been captured in an image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Scattered with many nearby stars, the field also has numerous galaxies in the background.

Hidden treasure in Large Magellanic Cloud

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 10:58:58 EST

Nearly 200,000 light-years from Earth, the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, floats in space, in a long and slow dance around our galaxy. Vast clouds of gas within it slowly collapse to form new stars. In turn, these light up the gas clouds in a riot of colors, visible in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

Astronomers find massive supply of gas around modern galaxies

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 14:39:39 EST

Galaxies have a voracious appetite for fuel -- in this case, fresh gas -- but astronomers have had difficulty finding the pristine gas that should be falling onto galaxies. Now, scientists have provided direct empirical evidence for these gas flows using new observations from the Hubble Space Telescope.

Nearby dwarf galaxy and possible protogalaxy found: Telescopes reveal intergalactic traffic jam

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 14:38:38 EST

Peering deep into the dim edges of a distorted pinwheel galaxy in the constellation Ursa Major (the Great Bear), astronomers have discovered a faint dwarf galaxy and another possible young dwarf caught before it had a chance to form any stars.

Biggest structure in universe: Large quasar group is 4 billion light years across

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 09:25:25 EST

Astronomers have found the largest known structure in the universe. The large quasar group (LQG) is so large that it would take a vehicle traveling at the speed of light some 4 billion years to cross it. Quasars are the nuclei of galaxies from the early days of the universe that undergo brief periods of extremely high brightness that make them visible across huge distances. These periods are ‘brief’ in astrophysics terms but actually last 10-100 million years.

NASA's GALEX reveals the largest-known spiral galaxy

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 17:08:08 EST

The spectacular barred spiral galaxy NGC 6872 has ranked among the biggest stellar systems for decades. Now astronomers have crowned it the largest-known spiral.

A jumble of exotic stars: New VISTA snap of star cluster 47 Tucanae

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 07:54:54 EST

A new infrared image from the European Southern Observatory's VISTA telescope shows the globular cluster 47 Tucanae in striking detail. This cluster contains millions of stars, and there are many nestled at its core that are exotic and display unusual properties. Studying objects within clusters like 47 Tucanae may help us to understand how these oddballs form and interact.