Astronomers from SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research have discovered a new cluster of galaxies, hidden behind a previously identified cluster of galaxies. The recently exposed cosmic giant is apparently just as bright as the first group, but is six times further away. The astronomers made the discovery as part of an international team using the space telescope XMM-Newton. picked by AutumnLotus 8 months ago

Astronomers have found the first direct evidence that some quasars fuel their bright energy emissions by feeding on gas from external sources, probably neighboring galaxies. picked by AutumnLotus 1 year ago

Using ESO's Very Large Telescope, an international team of astronomers has discovered a stunning rare case of a triple merger of galaxies. This system, which astronomers have dubbed 'The Bird' - albeit it also bears resemblance with a cosmic Tinker Bell - is composed of two massive spiral galaxies and a third irregular galaxy. picked by AutumnLotus 7 months ago

A team of astronomers looking at the universe’s distant past found nine young, unusually compact galaxies, each weighing in at 200 billion times the mass of the Sun.

These young galaxies are the equivalent of a human baby that is 20 inches long, yet weighs 180 pounds. picked by AutumnLotus 4 months ago

Two galaxies perform an intricate dance in this new Hubble Space Telescope image. The galaxies, containing a vast number of stars, swing past each other in a graceful performance choreographed by gravity. picked by AutumnLotus 10 months ago

An image based on data taken with ESO's Very Large Telescope reveals a triplet of galaxies intertwined in a cosmic dance. The three galaxies, catalogued as NGC 7173 (top), 7174 (bottom right) and 7176 (bottom left), are located 106 million light-years away towards the constellation of Piscis Austrinus (the 'Southern Fish'). picked by AutumnLotus 7 months ago

Astronomers are using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to dissect one of the largest structures in the Universe as part of a quest to understand the violent lives of galaxies. Hubble is providing indirect evidence of unseen dark matter tugging on galaxies in the crowded, rough-and-tumble environment of a massive supercluster of hundreds of galaxies. picked by AutumnLotus 7 months ago

An ambitious study of active and inactive galaxies has given new insights into the complex interaction between super-massive black holes at the heart of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and star formation in the surrounding galaxy. The study finds that gas ejected during the quasar stage of AGN snuffs out star formation, leaving the host galaxies to evolve passively. picked by AutumnLotus 4 months ago

Galaxies today are struggling to clump together against the incredible repulsive power of dark energy, hints a new survey of thousands of galaxies. Measuring this anti-clumping effect puts a new arrow in the quiver of cosmologists seeking to uncover the nature of the mysterious force. picked by deepchill 7 months ago

A half-dozen hefty black holes hide out where they are least expected, in relatively skinny galaxies. The discovery implies galaxies don't need bulging bellies to harbor monstrous black holes. picked by AutumnLotus 7 months ago

SRON astronomer Floris van der Tak is the first to have observed acidic particulate clouds outside of our own Milky Way galaxy. He did this by focusing the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, located on Hawaii, on two nearby Milky Way galaxies. Astronomers think that acidification inhibits the formation of stars and planets in the dust clouds. picked by AutumnLotus 9 months ago

Huge filaments of dark matter have been detected in a survey of thousands of distant galaxies. The discovery supports the idea that dark matter drove the formation of galaxies and larger cosmic structures and resolves a discrepancy in previous studies about how much dark matter the universe contains. picked by AutumnLotus 6 months ago

Dusty infrared galaxies are cosmic "nurseries" for some of the universe's hottest young stars -- and new research from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows that when the universe was approximately six billion years old, these galaxies packed into the densest "zip codes" in space. Astronomers hope that this latest finding will give them insights into why the modern universe look... read full post picked by AutumnLotus 10 months ago

UK astronomers have developed the most sensitive infrared map of the distant universe ever produced, revealing the origins of the most massive galaxies in the cosmos. Using images obtained with the United Kingdom Infra-Red Telescope (UKIRT), astronomers combined data over a period of three years. This produced a map encompassing more than 100,000 galaxies over an area of sky four times the size of... read full post picked by AutumnLotus 4 months ago

Small, ultrafaint "hobbit" galaxies recently found hovering around our Milky Way are comprised almost entirely of dark matter, a new study confirms. Dark matter is a mysterious substance scientists think accounts for most of the mass in the universe but that is invisible to current instruments. picked by AutumnLotus 11 months ago

Astronomers have produced a scientific gold mine of detailed, high-quality images of nearby galaxies that is yielding important new insights into many aspects of galaxies, including their complex structures, how they form stars, the motions of gas in the galaxies, the relationship of "normal" matter to unseen "dark matter," and many others. picked by AutumnLotus 7 months ago

An international team of astronomers has identified huge star streams in the outskirts of two nearby spiral galaxies. For the first time, they have obtained a panoramic overview of an example of galactic cannibalism similar to that involving the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy in the vicinity of the Milky Way. picked by AutumnLotus 4 months ago

Stars in dwarf spheroidal galaxies behave in a way that suggests the galaxies are utterly dominated by dark matter. Mario Mateo and Matthew Walker measured the velocity of 6,804 stars in seven dwarf satellite galaxies of the Milky Way: Carina, Draco, Fornax, Leo I, Leo II, Sculptor and Sextans. They found that, contrary to what Newton's law of gravity predicts, stars in these galaxies do not move ... read full post picked by AutumnLotus 10 months ago

The young building blocks of galaxies similar to the Milky Way have been spotted for the first time by astronomers, giving a tantalizing glimpse of how our stellar backyard may have formed. The discovery of 27 "teenager", or proto-galaxies, is further evidence that galaxies like the Milky Way were created by the clumping of smaller clouds of gas and dust. picked by AutumnLotus 9 months ago

In the early 1900s, Edwin Hubble made the startling discovery that our Milky Way galaxy is not alone. It is just one of many galaxies, or "island universes," as Hubble dubbed them, swimming in the sea of space. Now, a century later, NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer is helping piece together the evolution of these cosmic species. picked by AutumnLotus 9 months ago