Galactic Center tagged posts

Strange Radio Waves emerge from the direction of the Galactic Center

Artist's impression of ASKAP J173608.2-321635 by Sebastian Zentilomo
Artist’s impression of ASKAP J173608.2-321635 by Sebastian Zentilomo

A variable signal aligned to the heart of the Milky Way is tantalising scientists. Astronomers have discovered unusual signals coming from the direction of the Milky Way’s centre. The radio waves fit no currently understood pattern of variable radio source and could suggest a new class of stellar object.

“The strangest property of this new signal is that it is has a very high polarisation. This means its light oscillates in only one direction, but that direction rotates with time,” said Ziteng Wang, lead author of the new study and a PhD student in the School of Physics at the University of Sydney.

“The brightness of the object also varies dramatically, by a factor of 100, and the signal switches on and off appa...

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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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