New Atlas

Space

When galaxies collide: A strong shock in the eyelids

Anthony Wood November 7, 2016

A team of astronomers has used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to observe a gigantic tsunami of stars and interstellar material that has created striking eyelid-shaped formations in a distant spiral galaxy.

The duo of interacting galaxies IC 2163 (pictured on the left) and NGC 2207 reside some ...

Space

The universe could be more crowded than we thought

Anthony Wood October 14, 2016

An international team of researchers has carried out an extremely precise survey of the observable universe, and estimated that there are around 10 times as many galaxies populating the cosmos than had previously been believed.

An image captured as part of the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS)

Space

Dueling supermassive black holes could be behind a galaxy's fading light

Anthony Wood September 15, 2016

A new study may have discovered the cause of a mysterious variation in light emitted by a supermassive black hole lurking at the heart of the distant galaxy Markarian 1018 (Mrk 1018).

Image of Mrk 1018 captured by the MUSE instrument mounted on the ESO's Very Large Telescope ...

Space

"Galactic fossil" could connect Milky Way's past and present

Tyler MacDonald September 7, 2016

The stellar system Terzan 5 might be a relic from the Milky Way's past that could shed light on its history, as well as the nature of galaxy formation in general.

The Terzan 5 stellar system might be a kind of cosmic fossil from the Milky Way's ...

Space

Newly discovered galaxy cluster is by far the most ancient ever detected

Anthony Wood August 31, 2016

A team of astronomers has detected the most distant galaxy cluster ever discovered lurking some 11.1 billion light-years away from Earth.

Composite image of the galaxy cluster CL J1001+0220

Space

Orbital telescope speed tests the Milky Way's "halo"

Anthony Wood July 27, 2016

Using archival data from ESA's XMM-Newton orbital telescope, a team of astronomers from the University of Michigan has calculated the speed of the vast halo composed of incredibly hot gas that surrounds the Milky Way.

Artists impression of the Milky Way, as well as the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds embedded ...

Space

How Twitter led the way to finding the Milky Way's giant “X”

Anthony Wood July 21, 2016

Prompted by a series of tweets, a pair of astronomers have used data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer orbital telescope to identify an image of a massive “X”-shaped star formation located in our galaxy's central bulge.

Infrared image of the galactic center with the "X"-shaped star formation displayed prominently in the inset

Space

Hawaiian telescope presents rare infrared view of the deep Universe

Anthony Wood July 2, 2016

Astronomers have released a stunning infrared view of the deep Universe containing a number of galaxies created in the first billion years following the birth of the cosmos.

Zoomed in infrared view of 0.4 percent of the UDS field

Space

Newly-discovered "red geyser" galaxies may be responsible for galactic warming

Anthony Wood May 27, 2016

An international team of scientists may have discovered the key to a phenomena known as "galactic warming," which is thought to be responsible for a dramatic drop-off in star production on galactic scales.

Artist's impression of Akira drawing matter away from Tetsuo

Space

Herschel provides stunning video of galactic panorama

Anthony Wood April 22, 2016

The European Space Agency has released a stunning video constructed from data collected by the Herschel space observatory over the course of its short operational life. The video displays a detailed panorama of the Milky Way.