A team of astronomers using the National Science Foundation’s Very Large Array radio telescope has caught an old star during the very brief period of its transformation into a planetary nebula, a shining bubble of glowing gas with a hot remnant star at its center.
Ancient Black Hole Speeds Through Galaxy
Astronomers find an ancient black hole speeding through the Sun’s Galactic neighborhood, devouring a small companion star as the pair travels in an eccentric orbit looping to the outer reaches of our Milky Way Galaxy.
Best Detail Ever of Star-forming Cloud’s Magnetic Field
Astronomers have used the National Science Foundation’s Very Long Baseline Array radio telescope to do a very detailed map of the magnetic field within a star-forming cloud.
Gas Cloud to Make its Star-forming Debut
Astronomers using the National Science Foundation’s 140-foot radio telescope at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, W.Va., have discovered a highly unusual, massive interstellar cloud that appears poised to begin a burst of star formation.
Dramatic Movie of a Cosmic Jet
Astronomers using a world-wide collection of radio telescopes, including the National Science Foundation’s Very Long Baseline Array of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, have made a dramatic movie of a voracious, superdense neutron star repeatedly spitting out subatomic particles at nearly the speed of light.
Young Star Burping Spheres of Gas
A young star more than 2,000 light-years away in the constellation Cepheus may be belching out spheres of gas, ejecting them repeatedly — phenomena not predicted by current theories of how young stars shed matter.