ALMA tagged posts

New Radio Receiver opens Wider Window to Radio Universe

Distribution of CO isotopologues in the Orion molecular cloud observed simultaneously with the newly developed broadband receiver. (Credit: Osaka Prefecture University/NAOJ)

Researchers have used the latest wireless technology to develop a new radio receiver for astronomy. The receiver is capable of capturing radio waves at frequencies over a range several times wider than conventional ones, and can detect radio waves emitted by many types of molecules in space at once. This is expected to enable significant progresses in the study of the evolution of the Universe and the mechanisms of star and planet formation.

Interstellar molecular clouds of gas and dust provide the material for stars and planets...

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ALMA discovers Earliest Gigantic Black Hole Storm

figure: Artist’s impression of a galactic wind driven by a supermassive black hole located in the center of a galaxy
Artist’s impression of a galactic wind driven by a supermassive black hole located in the center of a galaxy. The intense energy emanating from the black hole creates a galaxy-scale flow of gas that blows away the interstellar matter that is the material for forming stars. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)

Researchers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) discovered a titanic galactic wind driven by a supermassive black hole 13.1 billion years ago. This is the earliest example yet observed of such a wind to date and is a telltale sign that huge black holes have a profound effect on the growth of galaxies from the very early history of the universe.

At the center of many large galaxies hides a supermassive black hole that is millions to billions of times more mas...

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Mon ALMA discovers Rotating Infant Galaxy with help of Natural Cosmic Telescope

Image of the galaxy cluster RXCJ0600-2007 taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, combined with gravitational lensing images of the distant galaxy RXCJ0600-z6, 12.4 billion light-years away, observed by ALMA (shown in red). Due to the gravitational lensing effect by the galaxy cluster, the image of RXCJ0600-z6 was intensified and magnified, and appeared to be divided into three or more parts.
Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), Fujimoto et al., NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers found a rotating baby galaxy 1/100th the size of the Milky Way at a time when the Universe was only seven percent of its present age...

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Stellar Eggs near Galactic Center hatching into Baby Stars

ALMA pseudo-color composite image of the gas outflows from stellar eggs in the Galactic Center region. Gas moving toward us is shown in blue and gas moving away from us is shown in red. Credit: ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO), Lu et al

Astronomers found a number of stellar eggs containing baby stars around the center of the Milky Way using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). Previous studies had suggested that the environment there is too harsh to form stars. These findings indicate that star formation is more resilient than researchers thought.

Stars form in stellar eggs, cosmic clouds of gas and dust which collapse due to gravity. If something interferes with the gravity driven contraction, star formation will be suppressed...

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