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galaxies

Latest Articles

Collage illustration of the JWST
astrophysics

The Webb Space Telescope Will Rewrite Cosmic History. If It Works.

By Natalie Wolchover
December 3, 2021
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The James Webb Space Telescope has the potential to rewrite the history of the cosmos and reshape humanity’s position within it. But first, a lot of things have to work just right.

An animation of a glowing conical beam
astrophysics

Physicists Identify the Engine Powering Black Hole Energy Beams

By Natalie Wolchover
May 20, 2021
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Supermassive black holes emit jets of white-hot plasma that stretch thousands of light-years across the cosmos. For the first time, researchers have identified what’s creating these jets.

The Milky Way galaxy shown in X-rays.
Abstractions blog

Galaxy-Size Bubbles Discovered Towering Over the Milky Way

By Charlie Wood
January 6, 2021
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For decades, astronomers debated whether a particular smudge was close-by and small, or distant and huge. A new X-ray map supports the massive option.

A computer simulation of two galaxies colliding.
astrophysics

The New History of the Milky Way

By Charlie Wood
December 15, 2020
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Over the past two years, astronomers have rewritten the story of our galaxy.

Photo of a sign reading “To Telescope” near Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles.
Quantized Columns

Social Distancing From the Stars

By Emily Levesque
August 11, 2020
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Professional astronomers may not point their telescopes by hand anymore, but COVID-19 has still closed observatories and impeded research.

Video of hot gas falling into a supermassive black hole.
Abstractions blog

Why Are Black Holes So Bright?

By Liz Kruesi
April 22, 2020
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And why is the black hole at the center of our own galaxy so dim?

Video simulation of gas around a black hole.
astrophysics

Astronomers Find Black Holes Stirring Up the Biggest Galaxies

By Charlie Wood
December 12, 2019
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After a space telescope disintegrated, astrophysicists had little hope of understanding how supermassive black holes agitate giant galaxies. Then they invented a hack.

Artists impression of AGN driven outflows from a dwarf galaxy
Abstractions blog

Big Black Holes Found in the Smallest Galaxies

By Ramin Skibba
July 23, 2019
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Tiny, dim “dwarf” galaxies have been found to hide gas-spewing black holes.

Art for "Missing Galaxies? Now There’s Too Many"
astrophysics

Missing Galaxies? Now There’s Too Many

By Shannon Hall
January 9, 2019
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Astronomers couldn’t find enough satellite galaxies orbiting the Milky Way. Now they have the opposite problem.


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