(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 ...
Astronomy
Jan 8, 2013
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(Phys.org)—The surprising discovery of a massive outburst in a neighboring galaxy is giving astronomers a tantalizing look at what likely is a powerful belch by a gorging black hole at the galaxy's center. The scientists ...
Astronomy
Jan 7, 2013
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(Phys.org)—In 2011, a months-long blast of energy launched by an enormous black hole almost 11 billion years ago swept past Earth. Using a combination of data from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and the National ...
Astronomy
Jan 7, 2013
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The center of our Milky Way galaxy is a wondrous place full of huge star clusters, dust clouds, magnetic filaments and a supermassive black hole. But it can be a confusing place, too, posing challenges to astronomers trying ...
Astronomy
Jan 7, 2013
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(Phys.org)—Some of the biggest black holes in the Universe may actually be even bigger than previously thought, according to a study using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Astronomy
Dec 18, 2012
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(Phys.org)—Radio-astronomical observations of a distant galaxy indicate that the ratio of the proton's mass to that of the electron has hardly changed over cosmic history. This fundamental constant of nature has changed ...
Astronomy
Dec 13, 2012
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For the first time, astronomers have found a microquasar—a black hole devouring material from a companion star—in a galaxy beyond our own Milky Way. The object, pumping out X-rays and bright bursts of radio waves, was ...
Astronomy
Dec 12, 2012
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(Phys.org)—Spectacular jets powered by the gravitational energy of a super massive black hole in the core of the elliptical galaxy Hercules A illustrate the combined imaging power of two of astronomy's cutting-edge tools, ...
Astronomy
Nov 29, 2012
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(Phys.org)—After an odyssey of design and construction stretching across more than a decade, North America has delivered the last of the 25, 12-meter-diameter dish antennas that comprise its share of antennas for the international ...
Space Exploration
Nov 21, 2012
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(Phys.org)—Luminous galaxies glow like fireflies on a dark night in this image snapped by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The upper central galaxy in this image is a gigantic elliptical galaxy designated 4C 73.08. ...
Astronomy
Nov 18, 2012
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