In 2017 we witnessed a solar eclipse cross the US, welcomed an interstellar visitor, and discovered some exciting Earth-sized exoplanets. Some astonishing images of the farthest reaches of our universe were also captured. Here we collect some of the most awe-inspiring space images of 2017.
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With intense gravity and radiation, the region around the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy was thought to be too harsh for star formation. But now almost a dozen young rebellious stars have been spotted there anyway, triggering a rethink of our understanding of how stars are born.
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An international team of astronomers has completed the deepest spectroscopic survey of the early universe ever undertaken, collecting data on 1,600 galaxies, and discovering 72 previously unknown galaxies.
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The Hubble Space Telescope has done it again, capturing an incredibly detailed, macabre view of a dramatic galactic merger. This particular cosmic battle is set to be a pretty one-sided affair, as the majestic barred spiral galaxy NGC 1512 bears down on its victim – the dwarf galaxy NGC 1510.
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The voice component of Bixby, Samsung's shiny new virtual assistant, is ready to make its smartphone debut with the company rolling out the feature to Galaxy S8 and S8+ owners in the US today. Bixby is said to be more contextually aware than other virtual assistants, such as Siri or Cortana.
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Supermassive black holes lie at the center of most galaxies, but 750 million light-years away, 0402+379 boasts two of them – and one appears to be orbiting the other. The discovery is the result of 12 years of observation, marking the first time the phenomenon has been directly seen.
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For the first time, astronomers have witnessed a star disappear before their eyes. It appears to have collapsed into a black hole without the usual supernova, marking the first time scientists have witnessed the birth of a black hole, and changing our understanding of the life and death of stars.
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Scientists believe they’ve spotted the biggest wave ever discovered. This is a tad bigger than anything you’d find on Earth: this wave is roiling through an extremely hot gas cloud in the Perseus cluster and stretches 200,000 light-years across, meaning it’s twice the size of the Milky Way galaxy.
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Dark matter is a mysterious beast. Now, using data gathered from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have found that the best way to explain how matter clumps together in galaxies is with a model of dark matter that’s both fuzzy and excited.
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Sometimes, like galactic bumper cars, galaxies smash into each other. When they do, the massive black holes at their centers usually behave a certain way. However, a merger of two galaxies observed by some NASA spaced-based tech shows that there's always an exception to the rule.
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