Milky Way

Webb telescope discovers galaxy that may offer clues into Milky Way's birth

Named 'Firefly Sparkle,' this galaxy is distinguished by its low mass, offering a rare glimpse into early galaxy formation

For the first time ever, scientists capture image of star in another galaxy

A huge success for astronomers as they captured an extreme close-up image of the dying star, WOH G64, which is 1,60,000 light years away from our milky way

Voyaging into eternity: Nasa switches thrusters of probe 24 billion km away

After travelling over 47 years in space, Nasa's Voyager 1 spacecraft thrusters have reportedly been clogged with silicon dioxide impairing its communication with earth

Third of Milky Way's most common planets could harbour life: Study

One-third of the planets orbiting the most common stars across the Milky Way galaxy may hold onto liquid water and possibly harbour life, according to a study based on latest telescope data. The most common stars in our galaxy are considerably smaller and cooler, sporting just half the mass of the Sun at most. Billions of planets orbit these common dwarf stars. The analysis, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that two-thirds of the planets around these ubiquitous small stars could be roasted by tidal extremes, sterilising them. However, that leaves one-third of the planetshundreds of millions across the galaxythat could be in a goldilocks orbit close enough, and gentle enough, to be possibly habitable. "I think this result is really important for the next decade of exoplanet research, because eyes are shifting towards this population of stars," said Sheila Sagear, a doctoral student at the University of Florida (UF) in the US. "These st

Scientist explains gamma-ray emitting bubbles around Milky Way's centre

Large gamma-ray emitting bubbles around the center of our Galaxy were produced by fast-blowing outward winds and the associated "reverse shock," suggests a scientist from Tokyo Metropolitan University

Astronomers detect hot gas bubbles swirling around supermassive black hole

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have spotted signs of a 'hot spot' orbiting Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the centre of our galaxy. The finding helps us better understand the enigmatic and dynamic environment of our supermassive black hole."We think we're looking at a hot bubble of gas zipping around Sagittarius A* on an orbit similar in size to that of the planet Mercury, but making a full loop in just around 70 minutes. This requires a mind blowing velocity of about 30% of the speed of light!" says Maciek Wielgus of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany, who led the study published today in Astronomy & Astrophysics.The observations were made with ALMA in the Chilean Andes -- a radio telescope co-owned by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) -- during a campaign by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration to image black holes. In April 2017 the EHT linked together eight existing radio telescopes ...

Nasa's Hubble findings may provide insights into formation of Universe

Stars are the machines that sculpt the universe, yet scientists don't fully know how they form

No Gamma rays from a dwarf galaxy solve a decade old astronomical puzzle

No Gamma rays from a dwarf galaxy solve an astronomical puzzle

First image of supermassive black hole in centre of Milky Way revealed

The new view captures light bent by the powerful gravity of the black hole, which is four million times more massive than our Sun

Just 40 light years away, 7 Earth-like planets with similar compositions

A new research published in The Planetary Science Journal has now evoked a renewed interest in the system, with astronomers finding that the exoplanets have remarkably similar densities

Death of galaxy: Galactic collision spews gases equal to 10,000 suns a year

The merging galaxy formed 4.5 billion years ago is dubbed ID2299 and is ejecting gases equivalent to 10,000 Suns-worth of gas a year

Are we alone? Study hints at 300 mn habitable worlds in Milky Way galaxy

Before Nasa retired the Kepler space telescope in 2018, nine years of the telescope's observations revealed that there were billions of planets in our galaxy

ASTHROS Mission: NASA to use football stadium-sized balloon to study Cosmos

Likely to be launched in December 2023 from Antarctica, ASTHROS will spend about three weeks drifting on air currents above the icy southern continent

The dogged quest for alien life

Kipping used the statistical tools of Bayesian Inference to see if life should exist on Earth

New planet discovered in orbit of young Milky Way star Beta Pictoris

It is also relatively nearby, just over 63 light years, and surrounded by a disk of stellar dust

Largest scale 3D map reveals Milky Way 'warped, twisted', not flat: Study

Much of the current understanding of the spiral shape and structure of our galaxy is built upon indirect measurements to celestial landmarks and inferences based on other galaxies in the universe

Milky Way still in thrall of a 900 million-year-old cosmic collision

Unlike the water molecules, which settle again, the stars retain a 'memory' that they were perturbed

Scientists come across stray black hole hiding in the Milky Way

Size of the black hole is yet to be determined

Milky Way spewing out planet-size 'spitballs'

These planet-size objects glow from heat of its formation and are different from a typical planet

Sounds of oldest stars in Milky Way captured

Using data from NASA's Kepler mission, the team has studied the resonant oscillations of stars using a technique called asteroseismology