First 'bone' of the Milky Way identified

(Phys.org)—Our Milky Way is a spiral galaxy—a pinwheel-shaped collection of stars, gas and dust. It has a central bar and two major spiral arms that wrap around its disk. Since we view the Milky Way from the inside, its ...

Hidden galactic nuclei

(Phys.org) -- At the core of most galaxies including our own Milky Way is a massive black hole. Material falling into the environment of the black hole heats up, and can radiate dramatically, sometimes also powering the ejection ...

Dust from Asia pollutes US, Canada air: study

Dust and aerosol pollution from Asia travels across the ocean and sullies the air in the United States and Canada, possibly worsening the effects of climate change, a study showed Thursday.

ALMA turns its eyes to Centaurus A

(Phys.org) -- A new image of the galaxy Centaurus A, made with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), shows how the observatory allows astronomers to see through the opaque dust lanes that obscure the galaxy's ...

The earliest stages of planet formation

(PhysOrg.com) -- Small dust particles in a disk of gas around a young star, according to current models, gradually coagulate during the first million years until kilometer-sized objects are formed. These in turn coalesce ...

Dust makes light work of vehicle emissions

Queensland University of Technology (QUT) researchers have identified a silver lining in the cloud of red dust that enveloped much of eastern Australia two years ago.

Gamma-ray emission from Terzan 5

(PhysOrg.com) -- The H.E.S.S. telescope system in Namibia discovered a new source of very-high-energy gamma-rays from the direction of the globular cluster Terzan 5. Being very likely located in the outer parts of Terzan ...

Blushing dusty nebula

On Earth, we tend to find dust nothing more than a nuisance that blankets our furniture and causes us to sneeze. Cosmic dust can also be a hindrance to astronomers because cameras using visible light cannot see through it. ...

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