News tagged with milky way galaxy
Hubble shows Milky Way is destined for head-on collision with Andromeda galaxy
(Phys.org) -- NASA astronomers announced Thursday they can now predict with certainty the next major cosmic event to affect our galaxy, sun, and solar system: the titanic collision of our Milky Way galaxy ...
May 31, 2012 |
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11.5 billion years old: Stellar archaeology traces Milky Way's history
(Phys.org) -- Unfortunately, stars don't have birth certificates. So, astronomers have a tough time figuring out their ages. Knowing a star's age is critical for understanding how our Milky Way galaxy built ...
May 30, 2012 |
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How black holes grow: New study indicates they eat binary star partners
A study led by a University of Utah astrophysicist found a new explanation for the growth of supermassive black holes in the center of most galaxies: they repeatedly capture and swallow single stars from pairs ...
Apr 02, 2012 |
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Researchers say galaxy may swarm with 'nomad planets'
(PhysOrg.com) -- Our galaxy may be awash in homeless planets, wandering through space instead of orbiting a star.
Feb 23, 2012 |
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Astronomers watch instant replay of powerful stellar eruption
Astronomers are watching the astronomical equivalent of an instant replay of a spectacular outburst from the unstable, behemoth double-star system Eta Carinae, which was initially seen on Earth nearly 170 ...
Feb 15, 2012 |
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Scientists chart high-precision map of Milky Way's magnetic fields
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) are part of an international team that has pooled their radio observations into a database, producing the highest precision map to date of ...
Feb 03, 2012 |
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Astronomers determine color of the Milky Way Galaxy
A team of astronomers in Pitt's Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences announced today the most accurate determination yet of the color of the (aptly named) Milky Way Galaxy: "a very pure white, almost ...
Jan 11, 2012 |
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Disaster looms for gas cloud falling into Milky Way's central black hole
The normally quiet neighborhood around the massive black hole at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy is being invaded by a gas cloud that is destined in just a few years to be ripped, shredded and largely eaten.
Dec 14, 2011 |
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Physicists set strongest limit on mass of dark matter
Brown University physicists have set the strongest limit for the mass of dark matter, the mysterious particles believed to make up nearly a quarter of the universe. The researchers report in Physical Review Le ...
Nov 23, 2011 |
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New simulations suggest runaway stars may be outcasts from binaries
(PhysOrg.com) -- For at least half a century, astronomers have been perplexed by so-called runaway stars; big monsters that hurtle around galaxies at some thirty kilometers per second without apparent reason. Now however, ...
Nov 18, 2011 |
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Hubble uncovers tiny galaxies bursting with starbirth in early Universe
(PhysOrg.com) -- Using its infrared vision to peer nine billion years back in time, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered an extraordinary population of tiny, young galaxies that are brimming with ...
Nov 10, 2011 |
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Dark matter mystery deepens
(PhysOrg.com) -- Like all galaxies, our Milky Way is home to a strange substance called dark matter. Dark matter is invisible, betraying its presence only through its gravitational pull. Without dark matter ...
Oct 17, 2011 |
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Black hole, star collisions may illuminate universe's dark side
Scientists looking to capture evidence of dark matter -- the invisible substance thought to constitute much of the universe -- may find a helpful tool in the recent work of researchers from Princeton University ...
Sep 19, 2011 |
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Dark matter packs a punch: Milky Way's spiral arms formed by intergalactic collision
The signature spiral arms of the Milky Way galaxy were likely formed by an epic collision between the Milky Way and the Sagittarius Dwarf galaxy, according to a University of Pittsburgh researcher and his ...
Sep 14, 2011 |
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Researchers detail how a distant black hole devoured a star
(PhysOrg.com) -- Two studies appearing in the Aug. 25 issue of the journal Nature provide new insights into a cosmic accident that has been streaming X-rays toward Earth since late March. NASA's Swift satell ...
Aug 24, 2011 |
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Milky Way
The Milky Way, or simply the Galaxy, is the galaxy in which the Solar System is located. It is a barred spiral galaxy that is part of the Local Group of galaxies. It is one of billions of galaxies in the observable universe.
Its name is a translation of the Latin Via Lactea, in turn translated from the Greek Γαλαξίας (Galaxias), referring to the pale band of light formed by the galactic plane as seen from Earth (see etymology of galaxy). Some sources hold that, strictly speaking, the term Milky Way should refer exclusively to the band of light that the galaxy forms in the night sky, while the galaxy should receive the full name Milky Way Galaxy, or alternatively the Galaxy. However, it is unclear how widespread this convention is, and the term Milky Way is routinely used in either context.
For more information about Milky Way, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
