All articles tagged with #milky way
Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers mapped the Milky Way’s 650-light-year-wide Central Molecular Zone in unprecedented detail, revealing a complex network of dense, cold gas and molecules around Sagittarius A* to help explain how stars form in our galaxy’s extreme core.
Scientists using the ALMA telescope have produced the largest, most detailed image of the Milky Way’s chaotic center—the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ)—covering about 650 light-years. The mosaic reveals massive streams of turbulent gas, fast-moving stars, and rare structures like the Millimeter Ultra-Broad Line Object (MUBLO), offering new insights into how extreme galactic centers form stars and resemble early-universe environments. The ACES survey, involving ~160 scientists across 70 institutions, aims to develop a 3D CMZ map to unravel how matter flows and shapes star birth near Sagittarius A*.
A new ESO/ALMA image maps the Milky Way’s Central Molecular Zone, coloring different molecules to reveal the complex gas structures at the galaxy’s center (cyan sulfur monoxide, green silicon monoxide, red isocyanic acid, blue cyanoacetylene, magenta carbon monosulphide) while foreground stars are seen in infrared.
A new study proposes the Milky Way’s central mass could be a dense fermionic dark matter core rather than Sagittarius A*, capable of reproducing the observed fast S-star orbits and the galaxy’s Keplerian rotation decline, and it might even mimic the black hole shadow seen by the Event Horizon Telescope; while provocative, the idea isn’t yet proven and future observations are needed to confirm or refute it.
New research suggests the Milky Way’s central mass, traditionally attributed to the black hole Sagittarius A*, could instead be a dense fermionic dark matter core. The observed orbits of stars like S2 and Gaia rotation curves fit both a black hole and this dark-matter model, meaning current data cannot distinguish them. If the dark matter interpretation holds, it would imply a continuous dark-matter structure linking the galactic center to the halo, reshaping our view of the Milky Way’s mass distribution. Future observations, including higher-resolution EHT data and longer-term stellar monitoring, could resolve the true nature of Sgr A*.
A Nature Astronomy study finds that a vast, flat sheet of dark matter surrounding the Milky Way and Andromeda reshapes local gravity, slowing the motion of closer galaxies and accelerating more distant ones, which explains why Andromeda is on a collision course with the Milky Way and underscores dark matter’s key role in the dynamics of our cosmic neighborhood.
A Nature Astronomy study using local-universe simulations finds a vast, flat sheet of dark matter surrounding the Local Group that counteracts the Milky Way–Andromeda attraction. This sheet’s gravity pulls nearby galaxies outward, explaining why Andromeda is approaching us while other nearby galaxies are receding with cosmic expansion, reconciling observations with the standard cosmological model.
Simulations show a dense dark matter core at the Milky Way’s center could mimic Sagittarius A*’s gravity, matching observed orbital data as well as a black hole and aligning with Gaia DR3, but the model isn’t decisively better yet; next-gen instruments will test whether dark matter could truly dominate the Galactic Center.
Using the eROSITA observatory, astronomers have mapped interstellar tunnels—hot-gas corridors formed by past supernovae—that link distant regions across the Milky Way. This reveals a dynamic 3D network in interstellar space and has implications for how matter and energy flow, cosmic ray propagation, and star formation occur, with our Sun residing in the Local Hot Bubble.
Spanish researchers using Gaia astrometry and the IACOB spectroscopic database analyzed 214 O-type runaway stars and found that most did not originate as binary companions; the fastest runaways tend to be single, while faster rotators are linked to binary-supernova ejections, indicating multiple ejection mechanisms. The study also identified 12 runaway binaries, including three X-ray binaries with neutron stars or black holes, underscoring complex pathways for how these stars leave their birthplaces and influence galactic evolution.
New simulations suggest the Milky Way sits within a flat, sheet-like dark matter structure spanning tens of millions of light-years, damping inbound galaxy motions and solving long-standing mass and velocity discrepancies that spherical models could not explain. The sheet aligns with the Supergalactic Plane and implies a higher Local Group mass (~3.3 ± 0.6 trillion solar masses) within a broader anisotropic dark matter geometry that shapes the nearby cosmos and possibly early-universe structure.
A Nature Astronomy study using a virtual twin of the Local Group proposes that the Milky Way and its neighboring galaxies are embedded in a vast, sheet-like distribution of dark matter bordered by cosmic voids. This flat geometry could explain peculiar motions that spherical dark matter halos struggle to account for, with simulations aligning with observed galaxy dynamics.
A Space.com photo of the day features a panoramic view of the Milky Way above the Gemini South Observatory in Chile. The image highlights Gemini South's role in the International Gemini Observatory, its adaptive-optics-assisted infrared imaging, and NOIRLab's effort to power remote observatories with solar energy.
Over 6,500 players have started Distant Worlds 3, a three-month, community-led expedition in Elite Dangerous to explore the Milky Way with events like geology projects, mining goals, and mapping surveys; signup remains open on the official Distant Worlds 3 site.
Earth’s planets orbit the Sun in a relatively flat plane called the ecliptic, and there is no universal 'down' in space—the direction depends on the scale and frame of reference: beyond the solar system, stars lie in a galactic plane inclined about 60° to the ecliptic, and galaxies lie in the supergalactic plane; traveling in the apparent 'down' would eventually take you to other stars and galaxies, illustrating that spatial orientation in the cosmos is relative rather than fixed.