milky way
Astronomers Can Predict When a Galaxy’s Star Formation Ends Based on the Shape and Size of its Disk
A galaxy's main business is star formation. And when they're young, like youth everywhere, they keep themselves busy with it.…
One of the Oldest Stars in the Galaxy has a Planet. Rocky Planets Were Forming at Nearly the Beginning of the Universe
Would it be surprising to find a rocky planet that dates back to the very early Universe? It should be.…
You Can Actually See the Milky Way’s Wave When You Map Its Stars
Spiral galaxies are one of the most commonly known types of galaxy. Most people think of them as large round…
It Took 50 Nights of Observations to Capture New Data on the Magellanic Clouds
The Magellanic Clouds are two of our closest neighbours, in galactic terms. The pair of irregular dwarf galaxies were drawn…
A third of the stars in the Milky Way came from a single merger 10 billion years ago
Ten billion years ago the young Milky Way survived a titanic merger with a neighboring galaxy, eventually consuming the whole…
The Spherical Structure at the Core of the Milky Way Formed in a Single Burst of Star Formation
Like other spiral galaxies, the Milky Way has a bulging sphere of stars in its center. It's called "The Bulge,"…
Astronomers Map Out the Raw Material for New Star Formation in the Milky Way
A team of researchers has discovered a complex network of filamentary structures in the Milky Way. The structures are made…
Astronomers Find the Hollowed-Out Shell of a Dwarf Galaxy that Collided With the Milky Way Billions of Years Ago
In 2005 astronomers found a dense grouping of stars in the Virgo constellation. It looked like a star cluster, except…
7% of the Stars in the Milky Way’s Center Came From a Single Globular Cluster That Got Too Close and Was Broken Up
The heart of the Milky Way can be a mysterious place. A gigantic black hole resides there, and it's surrounded…
A Rogue Earth-Mass Planet Has Been Discovered Freely Floating in the Milky Way Without a Star
If a solar system is a family, then some planets leave home early. Whether they want to or not. Once…