On Earth, wind can transform entire landscapes - turns out the same is true in space. Galaxy NGC 4921 faces an intracluster wind that's eroding its star-forming terrain.
Galaxies
Seeing Signs of the First Stars?
Astronomers have come upon the tantalizing signal from some of the universe’s first stars.
Weighing a Supermassive Black Hole
Combining a novel technique and a world-class telescope, astronomers have measured the mass of the supermassive black hole at the center of barred spiral NGC 1097.
Dust-poor Early Galaxies
New ALMA observations reveal low levels of dust in nine early galaxies, suggesting astronomers should revise some of their calculations.
Dark Galaxies Suffuse the Coma Cluster
Following on a surprising find reported last year, astronomers have now discovered almost 1,000 dark matter-rich galaxies in the Coma Cluster.
Between Galaxies: Lonely Supernovae
Researchers confirm that three solitary stars have gone supernovae in intergalactic space.
The Most Luminous Galaxy
Researchers using NASA’s Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) have discovered the most luminous galaxy to date.
The Migrating Stars of Cluster 47 Tucanae
Observations of white dwarfs in a densely populated globular cluster confirm astronomers’ expectations that stars will migrate to a cluster’s outskirts after losing weight.
Spotting Andromeda Galaxy’s Giant Halo
Astronomers have detected a massive yet elusive nimbus of hot gas surrounding Andromeda Galaxy.
Runaway Compact Galaxies?
Astronomers have discovered 195 compact elliptical galaxies, upping the known number of these weird galaxies sixfold.
Hubble Investigates Ghosts of Quasars Past
A galaxy-size blob of gas discovered eight years ago by a Dutch schoolteacher has galvanized the study of the spectral remains of once-bright quasars.
Ancient Galaxies Seen Dying Inside-Out
Astronomers have found massive galaxies 3 billion years after the Big Bang that are dying from the inside out.
Ring-Shaped Spyglass to Early Universe
A rare type of gravitational lens offers astronomers a close look at a young, dusty galaxy manufacturing hundreds of stars a year.
New Dwarf Galaxies Near Milky Way
Astronomers have found a set of new dwarf galaxy candidates near the Milky Way Galaxy, a discovery crucial to understanding dark matter.
Hubble Spots a Lensed Supernova
For the first time, astronomers are watching as a supernova’s light bends around a massive galaxy on its way to Earth.
Dusty Galaxy in the Early Universe
A small galaxy 700 million years after the universe’s birth has a dust reservoir that makes it look like a much older galaxy.
Tempest in the Teacup Galaxy
New observations of the Teacup Galaxy show that even black holes with wimpy radio jets can quench a galaxy's star formation. An unassuming nearby galaxy nicknamed The Teacup (more formally known as J1430+1339) hides a tempest inside. The supermassive black hole at this galaxy's center is chowing down furiously on gas — seen from another…
Hubble’s Long Look at Distant Galaxies
Hubble Space Telescope observations are enlightening astronomers about the evolution of galaxies in the distant universe.
Charting the Andromeda Galaxy
The Hubble Space Telescope has turned its ultraviolet, visible-light, and near-infrared eyes to the queen of galaxies, M31, capturing the biggest and sharpest image yet of our neighbor.
Dark Galaxies Discovered in Coma Cluster
A bizarre set of galaxies in the Coma Cluster have lost most of their stars (or star-making material), making them especially rich in dark matter.
Ghostly Light From Dead Galaxies
Astronomers are peering into a galaxy cluster’s past, using Hubble’s Frontier Fields to measure the light from ghost stars cast adrift in galaxy collisions.
Mergers Create Disk Galaxies
Observations from several radio telescopes reveal that, when two galaxies merge, their progeny often have gaseous disks—a hypothesis that before now didn’t have solid observational evidence.
Citizen Scientists Probe Early Galaxies
New data collected by Galaxy Zoo show early galaxies with central bars, providing implications about how galaxies grow.
Small Galaxy Boasts Big Black Hole
Astronomers have detected a supermassive black hole in the center of a tiny galaxy — where it has no right to be.
The Quasar Main Sequence
A new diagram might link the diverse visible-light characteristics of quasars to two physical properties — essentially, their accretion rate and orientation. If the analysis holds up, it could point the way toward a long-sought unification.