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    Milky Way tagged posts

    Complex Gas Motion in the Centre of the Milky Way

    July 15, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Spiral galaxy Messier 61, picture taken with the Hubble Space Telescope. Our Milky Way might look like this galaxy. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA. Acknowledgements: G. Chapdelaine, L. Limatola, and R. Gendler

    Spiral galaxy Messier 61, picture taken with the Hubble Space Telescope. Our Milky Way might look like this galaxy. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA. Acknowledgements: G. Chapdelaine, L. Limatola, and R. Gendler

    How does the gas in the centre of the Milky Way behave? Researchers from Heidelberg University, in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Oxford, recently investigated the motion of gas clouds in a comprehensive computer simulation. The new model finally makes it possible to conclusively explain this complex gas motion.

    Our solar system is located in the outer regions of the Milky Way, a disk-shaped galaxy with an approximate diameter of 100,000 light years...

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    ‘Ageless’ Silicon throughout Milky Way may indicate a Well-mixed Galaxy

    April 27, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Artist impression of the Milky Way Galaxy. Using the Green Bank Telescope, astronomers measured the relative abundance of light to heavy isotopes of silicon, as found in the molecule silicon monoxide, across the Milky Way. Surprisingly, the astronomer found none of the expected gradient -- higher ratio of heavier silicon isotopes -- toward the galactic center. This may suggest that the Milky Way is more efficient at mixing its contents than previously assumed. Credit: Alexandra Angelich (NRAO/AUI/NSF)

    Artist impression of the Milky Way Galaxy. Using the Green Bank Telescope, astronomers measured the relative abundance of light to heavy isotopes of silicon, as found in the molecule silicon monoxide, across the Milky Way. Surprisingly, the astronomer found none of the expected gradient — higher ratio of heavier silicon isotopes — toward the galactic center. This may suggest that the Milky Way is more efficient at mixing its contents than previously assumed. Credit: Alexandra Angelich (NRAO/AUI/NSF)

    As galaxies age, some of their basic chemical elements can also show signs of aging. This aging process can be seen as certain atoms “put on a little weight,” meaning they change into heavier isotopes – atoms with additional neutrons in their nuclei...

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    Understanding Blended Galaxies

    January 14, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    This image shows three instances of merging galaxies located at least a billion light years from Earth. Each galaxy is as large as the Milky Way and contains about 100 billion stars. Violent gravitational interactions created the tidal tails shown and triggered massive black hole accretion at the galactic nuclei. These systems were first confirmed by Hai Fu in 2015. Credit: Hai Fu, University of Iowa

    This image shows three instances of merging galaxies located at least a billion light years from Earth. Each galaxy is as large as the Milky Way and contains about 100 billion stars. Violent gravitational interactions created the tidal tails shown and triggered massive black hole accretion at the galactic nuclei. These systems were first confirmed by Hai Fu in 2015. Credit: Hai Fu, University of Iowa

    Astrophysicist wins grant to find and characterize super massive black holes associated with merging galaxies. In roughly 4 billion years, the Milky Way will be no more. Indeed, our home galaxy is on course to collide and unite with the Andromeda Galaxy, at present some 2 million light years away...

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    A Giant Stellar Void in the Milky Way

    August 2, 2016, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    An artist's impression of the implied distribution of young stars, represented here by Cepheids shown as blue stars, plotted on the background of a drawing of the Milky Way. With the exception of a small clump in the Galactic center, the central 8,000 light years appear to have very few Cepheids, and hence very few young stars. Credit: The University of Tokyo

    An artist’s impression of the implied distribution of young stars, represented here by Cepheids shown as blue stars, plotted on the background of a drawing of the Milky Way. With the exception of a small clump in the Galactic center, the central 8,000 light years appear to have very few Cepheids, and hence very few young stars. Credit: The University of Tokyo

    A major revision is required in our understanding of our Milky Way Galaxy according to an international team led by Prof Noriyuki Matsunaga of the University of Tokyo. The Japanese, South African and Italian astronomers find that there is a huge region around the centre of our own Galaxy, which is devoid of young stars...

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