Milky

New Image Exposes Intense Magnetic Field of the Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole

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A new image of our galaxy’s central black hole reveals the magnetic field surrounding the object in polarized light. The image reveals how gas and superheated matter in the immediate vicinity of the black hole move around it. But aside from that, it’s a great way to visualize the extreme physics happening at the center … Read more

NASA’s GUSTO balloon telescope will map part of the Milky Way

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NASA is preparing to begin an experiment named GUSTO — short for Galactic / Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz Observatory — to gather data that will be used to create a 3D map of a portion of the Milky Way Galaxy. The GUSTO experiment involves a telescope that will float 120,000 feet over Antarctica on a … Read more

The Milky Way’s Stars Reveal Its Turbulent Past

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To make maps of these structures, astronomers turn to individual stars. Each star’s composition records its birthplace, age, and natal ingredients, so studying starlight enables a form of galactic cartography—as well as genealogy. By situating stars in time and place, astronomers can retrace history and infer how the Milky Way was built, piece by piece, … Read more

Webb discovery defies what we know about Milky Way-like galaxies

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Astronomers previously thought it took billions of years for galaxies to become stable enough to develop so-called “bars,” ribbons of stars and gas that cut across the core of a galaxy. The Milky Way is an example of a barred spiral galaxy. But a new James Webb Space Telescope discovery means scientists might have to … Read more