milky way
Rogue Planets Could Drive By And Scoop Up Life
[/caption] Free-floating "rogue" planets may occasionally dip into the inner Solar System, picking up dust containing organic compounds -- a.k.a.…
Newly Discovered Satellite Galaxies: Another Blow Against Dark Matter?
[/caption] A group of astronomers have discovered a vast structure of satellite galaxies and clusters of stars surrounding our Milky…
Grab a seat for the Celestial Lights show!
Painstakingly assembled from over 150,000 digital photos taken over the course of eight months, this stunning time-lapse video of aurora-filled…
The Case of the Missing Dark Matter
[/caption] A survey of the galactic region around our solar system by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) has turned up…
Hubble Gets Best Look Yet At Messier 9
[/caption] First discovered by Charles Messier in 1764, the globular cluster Messier 9 is a vast swarm of ancient stars…
The Milky Way’s Magnetic Personality
[/caption] Recently we took a look at a very unusual type of map - the Faraday Sky. Now an international…
ISS Soars Over Stormy Africa
Here's a quick but lovely little gem: a time-lapse video taken from the ISS as it passed above central Africa,…
What Color is the Milky Way? White as Snow (not Milk)
[/caption] What color would the Milky Way appear to alien civilizations looking at our galaxy through their telescopes? It turns…
First Look at a Black Hole’s Feast
A true heart of darkness lies at the center of our galaxy: Sagittarius A* (pronounced "A-star") is a supermassive black…
Globular Clusters on a Plane
[/caption] Globular clusters are generally some of the oldest structures in our galaxy. Many of the most famous ones formed…