New Atlas

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Colossal X-ray "chimneys" discovered at center of the Milky Way

Michael Irving March 20, 2019

It's hard to really understand the large-scale structure of the Milky Way. Now, astronomers have peered towards the center of the galaxy using the ESA's X-ray telescope XMM-Newton, and discovered two colossal "chimneys" pumping huge amounts of energy and gas out into intergalactic space.

An artist's impression of two huge "chimneys" spewing energetic particles out of the center of the ...

Space

Explore the galactic center as a supermassive black hole in new NASA VR experience

Anthony Wood March 25, 2019

A new NASA VR experience is letting viewers explore the chaotic heart of our galaxy from the perspective of the supermassive black hole lurking at its heart, Sagittarius A*. The video was created from a combination of supercomputer simulations and data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

The new video shows massive stars and clouds of cosmic gas interacting with the supermassive black ...

Space Audio available

Supernova sends "cannonball" pulsar hurtling at intergalactic speeds

Michael Irving March 19, 2019

The universe is full of fascinating stories, and NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has just spotted a doozy. About 10,000 years ago a star went supernova, and the explosion shot the resulting pulsar off like a cannonball, with enough force to send it hurtling out of the galaxy altogether.

The CTB 1 supernova remnant, visible here as a "bubble." The speeding pulsar is a tiny ...

Space

Massive hypervelocity star escaping Milky Way hints at presence of hidden black hole

Anthony Wood March 13, 2019

A team of astronomers has managed to find the origin of an enormous star that is currently barreling out of the Milky Way having escaped from one of our galaxy’s spiral arms. The discovery challenges the theory that such stars come from the galactic center.

NASA graphic showing the structure of the Milky Way

Space Audio available

Astronomers calculate the mass of the entire Milky Way galaxy

Michael Irving March 7, 2019

How heavy is the Milky Way galaxy? A team of astronomers has used data from Hubble and the Gaia satellite to make the most accurate measurement of the mass of the galaxy by studying the motions of star clusters orbiting the Milky Way.

Astronomers have measured the mass of the Milky Way by studying the movements of orbiting clusters ...

Space Audio available

Doomed, rare black hole spotted near the center of the galaxy

Michael Irving March 3, 2019

Black holes tend to fall into two categories: fairly small or supermassive. It’s long been believed that there should be a middle class, and in recent years astronomers have found evidence of these “intermediate mass” black holes. Now a Japanese team has located one near the center of the Milky Way.

Japanese astronomers have discovered a rare type of black hole near the center of the Milky ...

Space Audio available

NASA's newest mission to look for life's ingredients and probe the universe's deep past

Michael Irving February 13, 2019

NASA has selected the newest space mission for its Explorer program: the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx). The spacecraft will search for the ingredients of life in the Milky Way, and peer as far as 10 billion years back in time.

An artist's impression of SPHEREx, the mission NASA has just selected for its Explorers program

Space

The Milky Way galaxy is warped, according to new 3D map

Michael Irving February 4, 2019

Conventional wisdom has long held that the Milky Way was a flat disk of stars and gas, with a bulge in the middle. But now astronomers have created a more accurate 3D map of the galaxy and found that it’s more warped and twisted than previously thought.

An artist's impression of the warped shape of the Milky Way disk

Space

Hubble captures "lost light" to reveal deepest look into the universe yet

Michael Irving January 24, 2019

Astronomers from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) have re-processed an old Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (HUDF) image to find new details. The end result is the deepest image ever taken of the universe from space.

The new Hubble Ultra Deep Field image reveals new details, thanks to the recovery of "lost ...

Space

Sharper images of a supermassive black hole reveal new secrets

Michael Irving January 23, 2019

A team of astronomers has used a global array of telescopes to peer through the fog and capture some of the clearest radio images yet of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. And it may indicate that the object just happens to be pointing directly at Earth.

An artist's rendition of a supermassive black hole, such as the one at the center of ...