Galactic Plane tagged posts

2 new Fast X-ray Transients discovered in the Galactic Plane

Two new Fast X-ray Transients discovered in the Galactic plane

IBIS/ISGRI ScW image sequence (22–60 keV) from number 25 to 27 (revolution 1614) of the newly discovered transient source IGR J20344+3913 (encircled). Credit: Sguera et al., 2016.

Astronomers have identified two new X-ray sources in the galactic plane with short outbursts and very fast rise times, a category known as fast X-ray transients (FXTs). The newly detected FXTs were found in the archival data of ESA’s INTErnational Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (NTEGRAL) spacecraft. FXTs are very difficult to detect because they occur at unpredictable locations and times and their activity is very brief. INTEGRAL is one of the space observatories capable of detecting such elusive X-ray sources...

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New Herschel maps and catalogues reveal Stellar Nurseries across the Galactic Plane

New Herschel maps and catalogues reveal stellar nurseries across the Galactic Plane

Herschel’s view of the Eagle Nebula. Credit: ESA/Herschel/PACS, SPIRE/Hi-GAL Project Herschel’s view of the Galactic Plane. Credit: ESA/Herschel/PACS, SPIRE/Hi-GAL Project

ESA’s Herschel mission releases today a series of unprecedented maps of star-forming hubs in the plane of our Milky Way galaxy. This is accompanied by a set of catalogues of hundreds of thousands of compact sources that span all phases leading to the birth of stars in our Galaxy. These maps and catalogues will be valuable resources for astronomers for planning follow-up studies of particularly interesting regions in the Galactic Plane.

New Herschel maps and catalogues reveal stellar nurseries across the Galactic Plane

Herschel’s view of the Eagle Nebula. Credit: ESA/Herschel/PACS, SPIRE/Hi-GAL Project

During its 4 years of operations (2009-2013), the Herschel space observatory scanned the sky at far-inf...

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ATLASGAL Survey of Milky Way completed

This part image of the Milky Way has been released to mark the completion of the APEX Telescope Large Area Survey of the Galaxy (ATLASGAL). The APEX telescope in Chile has mapped the full area of the Galactic Plane visible from the southern hemisphere for the first time at submillimeter wavelengths -- between infrared light and radio waves -- and in finer detail than recent space-based surveys. The APEX data, at a wavelength of 0.87 millimeters, shows up in red and the background blue image was imaged at shorter infrared wavelengths by the NASA Spitzer Space Telescope as part of the GLIMPSE survey. The fainter extended red structures come from complementary observations made by ESA's Planck satellite. The full-resolution image is available on the ESO web page: https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1606a/ Credit: ESO/APEX/ATLASGAL consortium/NASA/GLIMPSE consortium/ESA/Planck

This part image of the Milky Way has been released to mark the completion of the APEX Telescope Large Area Survey of the Galaxy (ATLASGAL). The APEX telescope in Chile has mapped the full area of the Galactic Plane visible from the southern hemisphere for the first time at submillimeter wavelengths — between infrared light and radio waves — and in finer detail than recent space-based surveys. The APEX data, at a wavelength of 0.87 millimeters, shows up in red and the background blue image was imaged at shorter infrared wavelengths by the NASA Spitzer Space Telescope as part of the GLIMPSE survey. The fainter extended red structures come from complementary observations made by ESA’s Planck satellite. The full-resolution image is available on the ESO web page: https://www.eso...

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