Milky

An artist’s composition of the Milky Way seen with a neutrino lens (blue). Credit: IceCube Collaboration/U.S. National Science Foundation (Lily Le & Shawn Johnson)/ESO (S. Brunier)For the first time, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory has created an image of the <span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip="<div class=glossaryItemTitle>Milky Way</div><div class=glossaryItemBody>The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our Solar System and is part of the…

Data collected by an observatory in Antarctica has produced our first view of the Milky Way galaxy through the lens of neutrino particles. It's the first time we have seen our galaxy “painted” with a particle, rather than in different wavelengths of light.The result, published in Science, provides researchers with a new window on the cosmos. The neutrinos are thought to be produced, in part, by high-energy, charged particles called cosmic rays colliding with other matter. Because of the limits of our detection equipment,…

In a first, astronomers have captured a portrait of the Milky Way galaxy showing high-energy neutrinos coming from within the galaxy, a new study has reported. The neutrinos, commonly known as cosmic “ghost particles”, have been detected by a telescope embedded in Antarctica’s ice.The development is an important milestone as it potentially opens up a new window of research. According to a paper published in the journal Science, scientists used the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station. It…

For the first time, scientists have seen neutrinos originating from the central disk of the Milky Way. Neutrinos are tiny, deeply weird particles that can zip through matter with nary a ripple. Because of their lack of interactions, they’re hard to detect—but also promising for revealing new secrets of the universe. In particular, Milky Way neutrinos may help scientists understand the origin of high-energy particles known as cosmic rays, which kick off the formation of neutrinos. And because neutrinos are particles…

At the heart of our galaxy lurks a supermassive monster, which is currently slumbering – but it hasn’t always been so quiet. New observations reveal an X-ray “echo” from a time when the Milky Way’s central black hole awoke just 200 years ago, shining a million times brighter than today.Like most galaxies, the Milky Way has a supermassive black hole at its core. With the mass of about four million Suns, this object, known as Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), is relatively quiet compared to some of its peers we’ve seen in other…

There's something really weird in the center of the Milky Way.The vicinity of a supermassive black hole is a pretty weird place to start with, but in 2020 astronomers found six objects orbiting Sagittarius A* that are unlike anything in the galaxy. They are so peculiar that they have been assigned a brand-new class – what astronomers are calling G objects.The original two objects – named G1 and G2 – first caught the eye of astronomers nearly two decades ago, with their orbits and odd natures gradually pieced together…

Strange things are afoot in the mysterious heart of the Milky Way. It’s a bustling, star-packed region that also harbors our galaxy’s supermassive black hole, which scientists call Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A*. Amid the millions of young, hot stars zipping around galactic center, astronomers have also spied a tangle of curious filamentlike structures stretching out for light-years. What exactly are the filaments? How did they come to be? And what do they tell us about the Milky Way’s heart? As of yet, these are all open…

The new discovery of six more runaway stars in the Milky Way has landed the fastest object of this type yet detected in the galaxy.In fact, two of the stars are record-breakers, with heliocentric radial velocities faster than any ever seen for runaway stars. The star J1235 clocks in at 1,694 kilometers (1,053 miles) per second; and J0927 at a jaw-dropping 2,285 kilometers (1,420 miles) per second.But four of the newly measured objects are what is known as hypervelocity stars, traveling at speeds that exceed the escape…

Credit: Breakthrough Listen / Danielle FutselaarCornell University’s Akshay Suresh is leading the Breakthrough Listen Investigation for Periodic Spectral Signals (BLIPSS), a project focused on detecting repetitive signals from the <span class="glossaryLink" aria-describedby="tt" data-cmtooltip="<div class=glossaryItemTitle>Milky Way</div><div class=glossaryItemBody>The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our Solar System and is part of the Local Group of galaxies. It is a…

Space scientists are observing a new supernova for possible radio signals from aliens as it expects an advanced civilization to communicate with Earth, space website NewScientist said on Friday. Astronomers are suggesting to use of supernovas as…