milky way
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…
Gaia has Already Given Us 5 New Insights Into the Milky Way
The European Space Agency launched the Gaia mission in 2013. The mission's overall goal was to discover the history of…
The Milky Way is Already Starting to Digest the Magellanic Clouds, Starting With Their Protective Halos of Hot Gas
Massive galaxies like our Milky Way gain mass by absorbing smaller galaxies. The Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic…
A Star had a Partial Supernova and Kicked Itself Into a High-Speed Journey Across the Milky Way
Supernovae are some of the most powerful events in the Universe. They're extremely energetic, luminous explosions that can light up…
A Stellar Stream of Stars, Stolen from Another Galaxy
Modern professional astronomers aren't much like astronomers of old. They don't spend every suitable evening with their eyes glued to…
Astronomers Estimate There Are 6 Billion Earth-Like Planets in the Milky Way
Six billion Earth-like planets in the Milky Way? If true, that's astounding. But the number needs some context. The Milky…
There are powerful magnetic fields at the core of the Milky Way, driven by the supermassive black hole
The center of the Milky Way is home to a giant black hole, but new research suggests that it isn't…
The Milky Way is surrounded by a huge hot halo of gas
Our Milky Way galaxy isn't just a disk of stars and nebulae - it's surrounded by a cloud of hot,…
Astronomers Find the Source of the Huge Bubbles of Gas Flowing Out of the Milky Way, Still No Idea What Caused Them
There's an unusual paradox hampering research into parts of the Milky Way. Dense gas blocks observations of the galactic core,…
About 3.5 Million Years Ago, a Stream of Gas Outside the Milky Way Would Have Lit Up the Night Sky
It's a truism to point out that modern humans have only been around for the blink of an eye, relative…