milky way
JWST Gazes into the Dark Molecular Clouds at the Heart of the Milky Way
There's an unusual object near the Milky Way's heart that astronomers call "The Brick." It's a massive cloud of gas…
These are the Fastest Stars in the Galaxy
Until recently, there were only ten known stars on trajectories that will allow them to escape the Milky Way Galaxy,…
Exactly How Massive is the Milky Way?
What is the mass of the Milky Way? What do you get if you add up all the stars, gas,…
The Milky Way has Trapped the Large Magellanic Cloud With its Gravity. What Comes Next?
Our galaxy’s largest nearby companion is the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a dwarf galaxy visible to the naked eye in…
You’re Looking at a Map of the Milky Way’s Magnetic Field
Using telescopes that study the sky in the microwave part of the electromagnetic spectrum, astronomers have successfully mapped the structure…
Astronomers Used a Fast Radio Burst to Probe the Structure of the Milky Way
Astronomers from Caltech used a Fast Radio Burst (FRB) from another galaxy to probe the distribution of matter in the…
Is the Milky Way… Normal?
Studying the large-scale structure of our galaxy isn’t easy. We don’t have a clear view of the Milky Way's shape…
How Do Stars Get Kicked Out of Globular Clusters?
Globular clusters are densely-packed collections of stars bound together gravitationally in roughly-shaped spheres. They contain hundreds of thousands of stars.…
The Milky Way has an Inner Ring, Just Outside the Core
Combining data from the APOGEE survey and the Gaia Observatory with sophisticated models, a team of scientists has found a…
Gaia Finds Ancient Satellite Galaxy Pontus Embedded in Milky Way
A recent study looked at stellar streams hidden in Gaia’s data, to uncover a torturous past.