Astronomers discovered that old, massive galaxies tend to be messy and disorderly, and set out to explain why. Computer simulations revealed that large ancient galaxies have likely been swallowing up their smaller neighbors for billions of years. This case of “cosmic munchies” results in unpredictable movement and a messy appearance. Visit BGR’s homepage for more …
A black hole carved a hole right through the Ophiuchus galaxy cluster, which is located some 390 million light years from Earth. Astronomers believe the explosion is the largest ever observed, besting the previous record-holder by a factor of five. The discovery is the subject of a paper published in the Astrophysical Journal. Visit BGR’s …
From our perch here on Earth, it’s impossible for most of us to notice changes happening in our home galaxy, the Milky Way. Astronomers, on the other hand, have tools at their disposal that make observing trends in our galaxy a bit easier, and one development, in particular, is leaving scientists scratching their heads: The …
Over the years, scientists studying space have spotted countless galaxies in all different phases of their lives. From newborn galaxies churning out new stars to ancient clouds of stars that aren’t doing much of anything. As astronomers from the University of California, Riverside, describe in a new paper in The Astrophysical Journal, the galaxy labeled …
If science fiction flicks have taught us one thing, it’s that when aliens eventually discover our planet they’ll be arriving in flying discs that seem to defy gravity. These mythical “flying saucers” are a well-worn sci-fi trope, but NASA’s trusty Hubble Space Telescope just spotted a flying saucer of its own, only this one is …
When astronomers peer deep into space, what they see is what they get. Humans have developed some seriously impressive imaging tools for observing faraway objects in space, but capturing images of something like a distant galaxy from multiple angles is impossible. Depending on the angle of a galaxy in relation to our planet, scientists may …
Galaxies come in all shapes and sizes, and the galaxies most pleasing to the eye are always in the most recognizable shapes. Dramatic spirals with outstretched arms, bursting with newborn stars are always a jaw-dropping sight, after all. Messier 110 is most definitely not in that group. Messier 110 is what is known as an …
Figuring out how our reality took shape over billions of years is no easy task for scientists. Theories about how the Big Bang played out and the immediate aftermath are a dime a dozen, but researchers led by a team from the University of Arizona think they might stumble upon some of the secrets of …
Like many galaxies, our own Milky Way is believed to revolve around a supermassive black hole. The location of the black hole, a feature known to astronomers as Sagittarius A* (pronounced “Sagittarius A star”) isn’t easily visible from Earth, but scientists can still catch a glimpse of it using infrared cameras during certain times of …
NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope is capable of capturing some truly stunning snapshots of distant features in space, and usually, when we see images of vast spiral galaxies we get to see them face-first. A new photo shot by Spitzer of a distant galaxy called NGC 5866 is much different, but no less interesting. We don’t …
