New Atlas

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Neighboring galaxy found to be on a collision course with the Milky Way

Michael Irving January 4, 2019

According to a new study, the Large Magellanic Cloud, a nearby dwarf galaxy, is on a collision course with the Milky Way. But there’s no need to worry just yet – the starry smashup won’t begin for another two billion years or so.

An artist's imagining of the night sky from Earth as the Milky Way collides with neighboring ...

Space Audio available

Gigantic "ghost" galaxy spotted circling the Milky Way

Michael Irving November 13, 2018

Astronomers have spotted a mysterious “ghost” galaxy orbiting the Milky Way. Huge but extremely faint, the oddball galaxy has been named Antlia 2, and it might just be weird enough to force us to rethink what we know about galactic physics and dark matter.

The new galaxy, named Antlia 2 (right) is extremely faint compared to the Milky Way (middle) ...

Space

Hypervelocity alien stars could be invading the Milky Way

Anthony Wood October 2, 2018

Astronomers have discovered a population of incredibly fast-moving stars bearing down on the Milky Way. It is possible that these newly found "hypervelocity" stellar bodies were created in another galaxy, before being hurled out into intergalactic space on a collision course with the Milky Way.

Space

Milky Way still bears the 10-billion-year-old scars of a galactic collision

Michael Irving July 4, 2018

An international team of astronomers has now found evidence of a celestial smash-up between the Milky Way and an unknown dwarf galaxy that took place around eight to 10 billion years ago, and forever changed the face of our home galaxy.

An artist's impression of a collision between the Milky Way and a smaller dwarf galaxy, such ...

Space

Astronomers capture exquisite view of Tarantula Nebula

Anthony Wood May 30, 2018

Astronomers have captured the most detailed view to date of the region of space surrounding the famous Tarantula Nebula – a 1,000 light-year wide swirling cloud of cosmic gas, the core of which is illuminated by some of the brightest and most massive stars ever detected.

Mosaic view of the Tarantula Nebula and its surroundings

Space

Hypervelocity stars are intergalactic runaways with a troubled past

Michael Irving July 5, 2017

While most stars are content with their place, hypervelocity stars are zipping through the universe fast enough to leave their home galaxy. It’s a mystery how they reached such speeds and where they came from. Now, astronomers from the University of Cambridge believe they’ve found the answers.

The fastest stars in the Milky Way might not actually be from this galaxy, according to ...

Space

Metal-poor galaxy could help test the Big Bang theory

Anthony Wood May 13, 2016

A team of astronomers has discovered a faint blue dwarf galaxy nicknamed Leoncino or the "little lion," that could be used as a tool to test the Big Bang Theory.

Space

NASA aims to unlock mysteries of celestial giants by observing rare black hole

Anthony Wood March 2, 2015

NASA scientists are hoping to unravel the evolutionary and environmental impact of celestial giants by observing an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH), sitting 100 million light years away in the spiral arm of galaxy NGC 2276.

X-ray image of galaxy NGC 2276 (Image:NASA/CXC/SAO/M.Mezcua et al & NASA/CXC/INAF/A.Wolter)

Space

Dwarf galaxy suggests black holes may be more common than previously thought

Colin Jeffrey September 19, 2014

M60-UCD1, a galaxy approximately 54 million light years from our solar system, has been found to contain a black hole with a mass equivalent to 21 million times that of our own sun and whose presence may suggest that such enormous black holes could be more common than previously thought.

Artists impression of M60-UCD1 – a dwarf galaxy with a supermassive black hole at its center ...