Category Astronomy/Space

An image of the colliding galaxies known as The Antennae, taken in the optical and near-infrared. Astronomers using the ALMA submillimeter array have found evidence for shocked gas near the nucleus of the northern (upper) galaxy, and argue that it is due to material infalling onto the nuclear region. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

Collisions between galaxies, especially ones rich in molecular gas, can trigger bursts of star formation that heat the dust and result in their shining brightly in the infrared. Astronomers think that there is also significant gas inflowing to the central regions of galaxies that can stimulate starburst activity. Inflowing gas, as it collides with the gas in the inner regions, should produce powerful shocks that should make the gas itself glow...

SpaceX regularly launches unmanned cargo ships to the International Space Station, and is working on a crew capsule that could carry humans into orbit as early as next year

SpaceX on Monday blasted off a secretive US government satellite, known as NROL-76, marking the first military launch for Elon Musk. The payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, which makes and operates spy satellites for the US, soared into the sky atop a Falcon 9 rocket at 7:15 am (1115 GMT). 10 minutes after launch, the scorched 1st stage of the rocket came back to Earth and landed upright at Cape Canaveral, marking the 4th successful solid ground landing for SpaceX.

“And we have touchdown,” a SpaceX commentator said on a live webcast as cheers broke out at mission control...

Sagittarius region of milky way. Credit: Wikipedia

A new ‘missing-link’ black hole in the Milky Way galaxy, hidden in the Sagittarius constellation has been found by an international team. The black hole is located ~26,000 light years, or 7.9 Kiloparsecs (kpc), from Earth in a globular cluster called, NGC 6624. A globular cluster is a gravitationally bound swarm of millions of old stars occupying regions that are just a few light years across. The team, led by Dr Benetge Perera, have found evidence that the millisecond pulsar (PSR B1820-30A) – a pulsar is highly magnetized, rapidly rotating neutron star that emits a beam of electromagnetic radiation – in NGC 6624 is most likely orbiting around an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) located at the cluster’s centre...

Four of the 13 galaxies clusters used in the study. The clusters are, starting at the top left and going clockwise, Abell 262, Abell 383, Abell 1413, and Abell 2390.

Astronomers have used data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory to study the properties of dark matter. The study, which involves 13 galaxy clusters, explores the possibility that dark matter may be more “fuzzy” than “cold,” perhaps even adding to the complexity surrounding this cosmic conundrum.
For several decades, astronomers have known about dark matter. Although it cannot be observed directly, dark matter does interact via gravity with normal, radiating matter (that is, anything made up of protons, neutrons, and electrons bundled into atoms)...