Galaxies | Astronomy.com

The Sombrero Galaxy doffs its cap to the power of JWST

Korey Haynes — Wed, 27 Nov 2024 11:00:00 +0000

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) shows off its infrared capabilities once again in new imaging of the well-known Sombrero Galaxy, otherwise known as Messier 104. By resolving the thickly textured dust clouds in the outer disk and toning down the brilliant central star glow, JWST shows a whole new side of the famous galaxy.Continue reading "The Sombrero Galaxy doffs its cap to the power of JWST"

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JWST just found a black hole starving its host galaxy to death

Alison Klesman — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 14:00:00 +0000

Astronomer Francesco D’Eugenio wasn’t looking for a murdered galaxy. His team set out to measure the motions of stars in a distant galaxy and to understand why they appeared so old. Similar massive galaxies in the early universe were typically bustling with new star formation, and D’Eugenio, a scientist at the Kavli Institute for CosmologyContinue reading "JWST just found a black hole starving its host galaxy to death"

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How Edwin Hubble won the Great Debate

Alison Klesman — Sat, 02 Nov 2024 17:00:00 +0000

By the dawn of the 20th century, not much had changed in the 400 years since Galileo’s discovery of the four jovian moons and his confirmation of Copernicus’ Sun-centered solar system. Through the early 1900s, astronomers disagreed on whether the universe was home to a multitude of galaxies, so-called “island universes,” or contained entirely withinContinue reading "How Edwin Hubble won the Great Debate"

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XRISM’s data debut proves its extraordinary capabilities

Daniela Mata — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 19:40:07 +0000

The X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) isn’t the first of its kind, but the state-of-the-art spectroscopic instruments onboard have opened new doors for high-energy astrophysics. Active galactic nuclei (AGN) — supermassive black holes that actively gobble material and shine brightly in the resulting chaos — have always held mysteries for astrophysicists. Now, a yearContinue reading "XRISM’s data debut proves its extraordinary capabilities"

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Dark Energy Explorers: How you can help unravel one of the universe’s biggest mysteries

Alison Klesman — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 16:30:00 +0000

Many large survey experiments in astronomy are looking to understand what we still don’t know about dark energy. Yet, many are plagued with the same problem: too much data. A tricky problem The Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) is looking to create one of the largest maps of the universe by creating aContinue reading "Dark Energy Explorers: How you can help unravel one of the universe’s biggest mysteries"

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The Milky Way and Andromeda may not merge, after all

Daniela Mata — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 15:20:00 +0000

If you’ve ever attended a star party, it’s more than likely that the astronomer on site pointed out the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) — currently around 2.5 million light-years away — and mentioned that it’s expected to collide with the Milky Way Galaxy in about 4.5 billion years. But recently, an international team of astronomers postedContinue reading "The Milky Way and Andromeda may not merge, after all"

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Early galaxies may be smaller than initially thought

Richard Talcott — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 10:00:00 +0000

The cosmos may not be broken after all. Soon after the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) started its science mission in 2022, astronomers discovered a half-dozen galaxies near the edge of the universe that appeared far more massive than anyone expected (see “Too big, too soon” in the September 2023 Astronomy). Prevailing theory held thatContinue reading "Early galaxies may be smaller than initially thought"

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New Horizons measures how dark the universe can get

Randall Hyman — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 16:51:20 +0000

As black as space may seem, even the darkest corner of the universe gets light. Measuring that tiny glimmer — called the cosmic optical background (COB) — sheds light on the energy balance of the entire universe, one of cosmology’s holy grails. With recent data gathered by the New Horizons spacecraft, now 57 times fartherContinue reading "New Horizons measures how dark the universe can get"

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Get to know the Andromeda Galaxy

Klaus R. Brasch — Sun, 01 Sep 2024 13:00:00 +0000

The famed Andromeda Galaxy, or M31, draws attention at public star parties not only because it is the nearest major member of the Local Group to our Milky Way, but also because most people are aware that it is set to collide with our galaxy. Some people become anxiously curious about what that collision isContinue reading "Get to know the Andromeda Galaxy"

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Event Horizon Telescope captures highest-resolution images ever taken from the ground

Mark Zastrow — Tue, 27 Aug 2024 17:29:34 +0000

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) was designed to capture images of some of the most gargantuan structures in the universe — and a new observation just pushed it to its limits. In a study published in The Astrophysical Journal, scientists working on the EHT — a consortium of 11 radio telescopes spread out across nineContinue reading "Event Horizon Telescope captures highest-resolution images ever taken from the ground"

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