A nearby dwarf galaxy poses an intriguing mystery: How is it able to form brilliant star clusters without the dusty, gas-rich environments found in larger galaxies? The answer, astronomers believe, lies in densely packed ...
Astronomy
Sep 9, 2015
39
770
Most galaxies are members of a cluster, a grouping of several to thousands of galaxies. Our Milky Way, for example, is a member of the "Local Group," a set of about fifty galaxies whose other large member is the Andromeda ...
Astronomy
Sep 9, 2015
1
55
In a survey of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope images of 2,753 young, blue star clusters in the neighboring Andromeda galaxy (M31), astronomers have found that M31 and our own galaxy have a similar percentage of newborn stars ...
Astronomy
Sep 3, 2015
1
112
Shown here in a new image taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) on board the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is the globular cluster NGC 1783. This is one of the biggest globular clusters in the Large Magellanic ...
Astronomy
Aug 31, 2015
7
110
Open star clusters like the one seen here are not just perfect subjects for pretty pictures. Most stars form within clusters and these clusters can be used by astronomers as laboratories to study how stars evolve and die. ...
Astronomy
Aug 19, 2015
0
31
The coalescence of two black holes—a very violent and exotic event—is one of the most sought-after observations of modern astronomy. But, as these mergers emit no light of any kind, finding such elusive events has been ...
Astronomy
Jul 29, 2015
32
206
Two undergraduates at San José State University have discovered two galaxies that are the densest known. Similar to ordinary globular star clusters but a hundred to a thousand times brighter, the new systems have properties ...
Astronomy
Jul 27, 2015
11
222
Using a new age-dating method, an international team of astronomers has determined that ancient star clusters formed in two distinct epochs – the first 12.5 billion years ago and the second 11.5 billion years ago.
Astronomy
Jul 27, 2015
1
134
Although this cluster of stars gained its name due to its five brightest stars, it is home to hundreds more. The huge number of massive young stars in the cluster is clearly captured in this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope ...
Astronomy
Jul 20, 2015
1
72
A supernova explosion at the end of a large star's life can leave the collapsed core, or neutron star, hurtling away from its dust and gas envelope at hundreds of kilometres per second. Now, astronomers have found that even ...
Astronomy
Jul 9, 2015
0
33
