Dark Cosmic Filaments: The Magnetic Field in Milky Way “Bones”
Star formation in the Milky Way primarily occurs in long, dense filaments of gas and dust that stretch along the spiral arms. Dubbed “bones” because…
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics News
In 1999 Mysterious Finger-Like Features Were Spotted on the Sun – Now Scientists Have an Explanation
In January 1999, scientists observed mysterious motions within a solar flare. Unlike typical flares that showed bright energy erupting outwards from the Sun, this solar…
Earth Is Surrounded by 1,000-Light-Year Wide Bubble – Source of All Nearby, Young Stars
Astronomers have detailed the creation and impact of the Local Bubble on nearby star formation, attributing its origins to multiple supernovae over millions of years….
Astronomers Discover Four Enormous Bubbles Caused by Giant Black Holes
Researchers using the Chandra X-ray Observatory have identified four large cavities in the galaxy cluster RBS 797, possibly created by two supermassive black holes. These…
Infrared Dark Clouds With Massive Young Stars Early in Formation
Infrared dark clouds (IRDCs), significant for star formation studies due to their molecular richness and coldness, were extensively surveyed by the Herschel Space Telescope and…
Our Milky Way Galaxy’s Most Recent Major Collision
The Milky Way’s growth is largely influenced by merging with nearby galaxies, such as the ongoing absorption of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy and the eventual…
Finding Exoplanets in Debris Disks
Using ALMA, astronomers found a gap in a star’s debris disk indicating a likely exoplanet, showing the importance of these disks in discovering new planets….
Spacecraft Enters the Sun’s Blistering Hot Corona for the First Time in History
On April 28, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe achieved a historic milestone by successfully entering the corona of the Sun, an environment of about 2 million…
Mysterious Dusty Object Discovered by Astronomers Using NASA’s TESS Planet Hunter
TESS, operational since 2018, has cataloged over a billion celestial objects and notably discovered TIC 400799224, a binary star system with erratic dimming caused by…
Astronomers Explore Cosmic Ray Influences on Star Formation in Galaxies
Cosmic rays, when their propagation is suppressed, can significantly impact star formation by preventing the formation of dense molecular clumps necessary for star birth, as…
Astronomers Spy Quartet of Enormous Cavities From Giant Black Holes
Four cavities in the hot gas of a single galaxy cluster have been found. Astronomers found this quartet of X-ray cavities in the cluster located…
Astronomers Observe a New Type of Binary Star – “Exciting, Missing Evolutionary Link”
Researchers have predicted the new class of star’s existence for 50 years but until now, never observed it in space. Researchers at the Center for…
Astrophysicists Reveal Largest-Ever Suite of Universe Simulations – How Gravity Shaped the Distribution of Dark Matter
To understand how the universe formed, astronomers have created AbacusSummit, more than 160 simulations of how gravity may have shaped the distribution of dark matter….
New Series of Three Great Space Telescope Observatories for the Future of Astrophysics
The Lynx X-Ray Observatory, conceived at the Center for Astrophysics, is included in a new series of powerful telescopes that have been recommended as a…
TRAPPIST-1: How Flat Can a Planetary System Get?
The planets of the solar system all orbit the Sun more-or-less in a plane. Compared to the Earth’s orbit, which defines the plane at zero…
Did a Black Hole Eating a Star Generate a Neutrino? New Research Casts Doubt
New calculations show that a black hole slurping down a star may not have generated enough energy to launch a neutrino. In October 2019, a…
Astronomers May Have Discovered the First Extragalactic Planet
Until now, astronomers have found all other known exoplanets and exoplanet candidates in the Milky Way galaxy, almost all less than about 3,000 light-years from…
Latest Results From Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation Measurements
The universe was created about 13.8 billion years ago in a blaze of light: the Big Bang. Roughly 380,000 years later, after matter (mostly hydrogen)…