All articles tagged with #interstellar gas
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have observed a massive stellar jet emanating from a young star on the outskirts of the Milky Way, with twin jets extending over eight light-years, illuminating the process of star formation and interaction with interstellar dust.
Astronomers using FAST have discovered a highly complex, supersonic network of tangled filaments in the gas cloud G165, revealing that turbulence and magnetic fields, rather than gravity, shape early interstellar cloud structures, offering new insights into galactic evolution.
A detailed image from the Dark Energy Camera reveals the vibrant star-forming region of Chamaeleon I, showcasing the complex processes of star birth, the influence of young stars on their environment, and the diverse stellar population within this nearby cosmic nursery, shaped by broader cosmic forces like supernova shockwaves.
Astronomers using the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa to search for hydrogen gas in a specific galaxy stumbled upon 49 previously unknown galaxies instead. The discovery, made in a short observation time, sheds light on the gas-rich environments and interactions between galaxies. The MeerKAT telescope, a precursor to the larger Square Kilometre Array (SKA), has proven to be a valuable tool for uncovering new astronomical phenomena and is expected to reveal more discoveries in the future.
The James Webb Space Telescope has helped an international team led by ETH Zürich's Simon Lilly to determine that early galaxies were responsible for ionizing interstellar gas, which later became transparent and allowed energetic starlight to penetrate it. The team used Webb to identify galaxies near a quasar estimated to have formed some 900 million years after the Big Bang during the period of reionization. The EIGER team also discovered a new honoree for the "most massive black hole in the known universe" award, which weighs 10 billion times the mass of the Sun.
An international group of astronomers has been observing a black hole, perhaps a billion times as massive as the sun, consuming a humongous cloud of gas, which is one of the most violent and energetic acts of cosmic cannibalism ever witnessed, and perhaps the biggest explosion seen yet in the history of the universe. The explosion, known as AT2021lwx, has been ongoing for three years and is one of the most luminous transients ever discovered, with a total radiated energy equal to 100 supernovas. The most likely explanation is that a black hole as massive as a billion suns was enjoying a prolonged feast on a gigantic cloud of gas.