ALMA tagged posts

Unexpected Chemistry reveals Cosmic Star Factories´ Secrets

Galaxy illustration with molecules
Light from many different molecules reveals the secrets of distant star factories. This illustration shows the many molecules found in the quasar APM 08279+5255, together with a Hubble telescope image of a similar galaxy in the nearby universe, IC 5063, which also has an active supermassive black hole at its centre. Background image credits: NASA, ESA & W. P. Maksym (CfA); Jmol (molecules); R. Cumming (montage)Photographer: NASA, ESA & W. P. Maksym (CfA); Jmol (molecules); R. Cumming (montage)

Two galaxies in the early universe, which contain extremely productive star factories, have been studied by a team of scientists led by Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden...

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Mystery resolved: Blackhole Feeding and Feedback at the Center of an Active Galaxy

An international research team has recently observed the Circinus galaxy, which is one of the closest galaxies to the Milky Way, with high enough resolution to gain further insights into the gas flows to and from the black hole at its galactic nucleus.

An international research team led by Takuma Izumi, an assistant professor at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, has observed in high resolution (approximately 1 light year) the active galactic nucleus of the Circinus Galaxy — one of the closest major galaxies to the Milky Way. The observation was made possible by the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) astronomical observatory in Chile.

This breakthrough marks the world’s first quantitative measurement at this scale of gas flows and their structures o...

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Astronomers observe Supermassive Black Hole Feeding and Feedback on Sub-Parsec Scales

Black holes are messy eaters
Carbon monoxide (CO; indicating the presence of medium-density molecular gas) is shown in red; atomic carbon (C; indicating the presence of atomic gas) in blue; hydrogen cyanide (HCN; indicating the presence of high density molecular gas) in green; and the hydrogen recombination line (H36α; indicating the presence of ionized gas) in pink. The size of the central dense gas disk (green) is approximately 6 light-years. The plasma outflow travels almost perpendicular to the disk. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), T. Izumi et al.

An international research team led by Takuma Izumi, an assistant professor at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, has achieved a milestone by observing the nearby active galactic nucleus of the Circinus Galaxy, with an extremely high resolution (approximat...

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New Cosmological Constraints on the Nature of Dark Matter

Dark matter fluctuations in the lens system MG J0414+0534. The whitish blue color represents the gravitationally lensed images observed by ALMA. The calculated distribution of dark matter is shown in orange; brighter regions indicate higher concentrations of dark matter and dark orange regions indicate lower concentrations. (Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), K. T. Inoue et al.)

New research has revealed the distribution of dark matter in never before seen detail, down to a scale of 30,000 light-years. The observed distribution fluctuations provide better constraints on the nature of dark matter.

Mysterious dark matter accounts for most of the matter in the Universe. Dark matter is invisible and makes itself know only through its gravitational effects...

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