Using the National Science Foundation’s Very Long Baseline Array radio telescope, astronomers have discovered a newly-exploded star, or supernova, hidden deep in a dust-enshrouded supernova factory in a galaxy some 140 million light-years from Earth.
Giant Cosmic Lens Reveals Secrets of Distant Galaxy
An international team of astronomers has discovered that a young galaxy had a central disk of gas in which hundreds of new stars were being born every year — at a time when the Universe was only a fraction of its current age.
Pulsar Bursts Coming From Beachball-Sized Structures
In a major breakthrough for understanding what one of them calls ‘the most exotic environment in the Universe,’ a team of astronomers has discovered that powerful radio bursts in pulsars are generated by structures as small as a beach ball.
Astronomers Trace Microquasar’s Path Back in Time
Astronomers have traced the orbit through our Milky Way Galaxy of a voracious neutron star and a companion star it is cannibalizing, and conclude that the pair joined more than 30 million years ago and probably were catapulted out of a cluster of stars far from the Galaxy’s center.
Young Star Probably Ejected From Triple System
Astronomers analyzing nearly 20 years of data from the National Science Foundation’s Very Large Array radio telescope have discovered that a small star in a multiple-star system in the constellation Taurus probably has been ejected from the system after a close encounter with one of the system’s more-massive components, presumed to be a compact double star. This is the first time any such event has been observed.
Aging Star is a Giant Water Fountain
Astronomers using the National Science Foundation’s Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) radio telescope have found that an aging star is spewing narrow, rotating streams of water molecules into space, like a jerking garden hose that has escaped its owner’s grasp.