A New Catalog of the Visible Milky Way
Astronomers used IPHAS data to create a new catalog of the visible part of the Milky Way, revealing no fewer than 219 million stars. A…
Milky Way News
Two Star Formation Regions in the Southern Milky Way
This new image from the European Southern Observatory shows two dramatic star formation regions (NGC 3603 and NGC 3576) in the southern Milky Way. This…
Astronomers Discover Stars Rotating Around a Common Axis in Globular Clusters
Using the new Integral Field Unit instrument VIRUS-W in conjunction with the 2.7-meter Harlan J. Smith Telescope, astronomers discovered that stars at the centers of…
Planck Space Telescope Reveals the Magnetic Field Lines of the Milky Way
A new fingerprint-like map from the Planck Space Telescope reveals the magnetic field lines of the Milky Way galaxy, allowing astronomers to study the structure…
Spitzer Images Create 360-Degree View of the Milky Way
Using more than 2 million infrared snapshots taken over the past 10 years by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, researchers created a new 360-degree mosaic of…
New Gaia-ESO Research Reveals that the Milky Way Formed “Inside-Out”
New research from the Gaia-ESO Survey shows that the inner regions of the Milky Way assembled faster than the outer regions, revealing that the Milky…
Massive Stars Map the Structure of the Milky Way
By using the distribution of young massive stars to probe the structure of the Milky Way, astronomers have reaffirmed that our galaxy has four spiral…
Computer Simulations Show How Stars at the Center of the Milky Way Move
In a newly published study, researchers from the University of Rochester use computer simulations to show how the stars at the center of the Milky…
Hubble Reveals the First Visual Evidence of Changes in the Milky Way
Using data from the Hubble Space Telescope, a newly published study reveals the first visual evidence of how the Milky Way has evolved over the…
Smith Cloud Heading Toward the Milky Way at More Than 150 Miles Per Second
Using the National Science Foundation’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array and Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope, astronomers discovered a magnetic field deep in…
Astronomers Discover that the Milky Way Wobbles
Astronomers have discovered that Milky Way makes small wobbling or squishing movements, acting like a huge flag fluttering in the wind. 22 October 2013. Astronomers…
ESA’s Gaia Spacecraft Ready to Create a 3D Map of the Milky Way Galaxy
Set to launch on November 20th, ESA’s Gaia spacecraft will create a highly accurate 3D map of the Milky Way Galaxy by repeatedly observing a…
New Survey Maps Where Stars Are Born
Astronomers have completed the largest-ever survey of dense gas clouds in the Milky Way, cataloging and mapping more than 6,000 gas clouds and allowing astronomers…
Detailed 3D Map Reveals Peanut Shape of Milky Way’s Inner Regions
Using ESO data, two groups of scientists have produced detailed three-dimensional images of the stars that form the inner regions of our Milky Way. Two…
Astronomers Find Bizarre Alignment of Planetary Nebulae in the Milky Way
Using Hubble observations, a new study from the University of Manchester has found that bipolar planetary nebulae located towards the central bulge of our Milky…
Chandra Views Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole Rejecting Food
Using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers found that less than 1% of the material in the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole’s gravitational grasp…
Study Suggests Andromeda Crashed into the Milky Way 10 Billion Years Ago
A new study suggests that Andromeda crashed into the Milky Way roughly 10 billion years ago, explaining the observed structure of the two galaxies and…
Sideways Motions of Distant Stars Shed New Light on Milky Way Evolution
A team of astronomers used Hubble to precisely measure the sideways motions of a small sample of stars located far from the galaxy’s center, shedding…