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

    November 4, 2023, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    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

    September 10, 2023, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    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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    Furthest Ever Detection of a Galaxy’s Magnetic Field

    September 6, 2023, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Located centrally on a dark background is an electric blue donut-shaped blob, showing the orientation of the magnetic field of the distant galaxy. The bright donut is not complete, and there are only two main features. The lines of the magnetic field give it an almost furry texture. The right-hand side of the donut forms a bright, curved banana-like shape. Instead, on the left-hand side, there is another bright region, circular in shape.
    Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have detected the magnetic field of a galaxy so far away that its light has taken more than 11 billion years to reach us: we see it as it was when the Universe was just 2.5 billion years old. The result provides astronomers with vital clues about how the magnetic fields of galaxies like our own Milky Way came to be.

    Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have detected the magnetic field of a galaxy so far away that its light has taken more than 11 billion years to reach us: we see it as it was when the Universe was just 2.5 billion years old. The result provides astronomers with vital clues about how the magnetic fields of galaxies like our own Milky Way came to be.

    Lots of...

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    Astronomers Discover a Forming Quadruple-Star System

    August 10, 2023, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    G206.93-16.61E2 is close to the reflection nebula NGC 2023 in the Orion B molecular cloud. The Zoom-in pictures show the 1.3mm continuum emission (blue) and CO molecular outflow (orange) of ALMA observation. These observations develop an in-depth understanding of the formation of multiple star systems in the early stage.
     (Image by SHAO)
     

    Recently, the international team ALMA Survey of Orion Planck Galactic Cold Clumps (ALMASOP) led by Prof. Liu Tie from Shanghai Astronomical Observatory (SHAO) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences conducted a high-resolution investigation on 72 dense cores in the Orion Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs) with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), and discovered a forming quadruple-star system within one core...

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