New levels of complexity and intrigue revealed in Milky Way's centerSeptember 23rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - A dramatic new view of the center of the Milky Way galaxy from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has exposed new levels of the complexity and intrigue in the Galactic center. The 88 Chandra pointings represents a freeze-frame of the spectacle of stellar evolution, from bright young stars to black holes, in a crowded, hostile environment dominated by a central, supermassive black hole.
Nearby spiral galaxy resembles our own Milky Way, say astronomersSeptember 3rd, 2009 MUNICH - The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has released a striking new image of a nearby spiral galaxy that many astronomers think closely resembles our own Milky Way. Though the galaxy is seen edge-on, observations of NGC 4945 suggest that this hive of stars is a spiral galaxy much like our own, with swirling, luminous arms and a bar-shaped central region.
Black hole is twice as big as originally thought: ScientistsAugust 24th, 2009 LONDON - New estimates bys scientists suggest that the black hole at the centre of the M87 galaxy may be twice as big as originally thought, and possibly large enough to measure directly. M87 is 55 million light years away.
Coiled galaxy has an "eye" staring from its centerJuly 25th, 2009 WASHINGTON - NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has imaged a coiled galaxy with an eye-like object at its center. The galaxy, called NGC 1097, is located 50 million light-years away.
Astronomers make most detailed map yet of 'blue whale' of spaceJuly 14th, 2009 SYDNEY - A team of astronomers has made the most detailed map yet of a rare radio galaxy, which is like the 'blue whale' of space. According to a report by ABC News, the map of Centaurus A, a galaxy in the Centaurus constellation, covers a segment of sky 200 times the area of the full moon.
Star clusters point to supermassive black holes kicked from host galaxiesJuly 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new research has determined that the tight cluster of stars surrounding a supermassive black hole after it has been violently kicked out of a galaxy represents a new kind of astronomical object and a fossil record of the kick. The research, published in The Astrophysical Journal discusses the theoretical properties of "hypercompact stellar systems" and suggests that hundreds of these faint star clusters might be detected at optical wavelengths in our immediate cosmic environment.
New class of medium sized black holes foundJuly 6th, 2009 LONDON - Astronomers have come by the first solid evidence of a new class of medium sized black holes, with more than 500 times the sun's mass, in a distant galaxy. This new source, identified as HLX-1 (Hyper-Luminous X-ray source 1), lies towards the edge of the galaxy ESO 243-49.
Origin of very high-energy gamma rays pinpointed to giant black holeJuly 3rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Using a worldwide combination of diverse telescopes, astronomers have discovered that a giant galaxy's bursts of very high energy gamma rays are coming from a region very close to the supermassive black hole at its core. The discovery provides important new information about the mysterious workings of the powerful "engines" in the centers of innumerable galaxies throughout the Universe.
Astronomers discover new class of black holesJuly 2nd, 2009 LONDON - An international team of astronomers has discovered a new class of black hole, more than 500 times the mass of the Sun. Astronomers made the finding in a distant galaxy approximately 290 million light years from Earth.
Weird space blobs turn out to be adolescent galaxies throwing final tantrum before growing upJune 24th, 2009 Telescope finds space blobs are pubescent galaxiesWASHINGTON — Mysterious space blobs aren't infant galaxies as astronomers once thought. Scientists say they mostly consist of galaxies going through puberty, all hot and bothered.
Black hole discovered to be 3 times more massive than previously thoughtJune 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Astronomers have used new computer modeling techniques to discover that the black hole at the heart of M87, one the largest nearby giant galaxies, is two to three times more massive than previously thought. The astronomers were Karl Gebhardt from the University of Texas at Austin and Jens Thomas from the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany.
Cosmic "ghost" found lurking around supermassive black holeMay 29th, 2009 WASHINGTON - NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has found a cosmic "ghost" lurking around a distant supermassive black hole, which is the first detection of such a high-energy apparition, and may be evidence of a huge eruption produced by the black hole. The X-ray ghost, so-called because a diffuse X-ray source has remained after other radiation from the outburst has died away, is in the Chandra Deep Field-North, one of the deepest X-ray images ever taken.
Astronomers probe close to supermassive black hole's edgeMay 28th, 2009 PARIS - Astronomers have used new data from ESA's (European Space Agency's) XMM-Newton spaceborne observatory, to probe closer than ever to a supermassive black hole lying deep at the core of a distant active galaxy. The galaxy - known as 1H0707-495 - was observed during four 48-hr-long orbits of XMM-Newton around Earth, starting in January 2008.
Rogue black holes may wander the Milky WayApril 30th, 2009 WASHINGTON - New calculations by scientists suggest that hundreds of massive rogue black holes, left over from the galaxy-building days of the early universe, may wander the Milky Way. The calculations have been made by Ryan O'Leary and Avi Loeb from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
Astronomers find most distant signs of water in the Universe to dateApril 23rd, 2009 WASHINGTON - Astronomers have found the most distant signs of water in the Universe to date, in the form of water vapor contained in a jet ejected from a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy. Dr. John McKean of the Netherlands Institute has made the discovery for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON).
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