Tag Archives: Milky Way

Chandra finds Black Hole at the centre of the Milky Way spraying high-energy jet of particles

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Galaxies around the universe are now known to have supermassive black holes at their cores, and these SMBH’s are known for their powerful jets of high energy partcicles streaming away along their north and south poles.  Recently, the Chandra X-ray space telescope has been peering through the dense wall of gas and dust which lies between us and our own SMBH, and has finally confirmed that we too have one of these vast jets in our own Milky Way galaxy.High … Continue reading →

Milky Way surrounded by hot gas

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Recent observations by NASA’s Chandra have found much of the Milky Way’s missing mass in the form of a vast halo surrounding the galaxy. It has been known for many decades that the amount of material which we can see in a galaxy is not enough to account for the speeds at which various stars and clouds orbit the centre. Objects towards the edge should move slowly and objects near the core should move rapidly, which is what we observe … Continue reading →

Africa’s first International Dark Sky Preserve

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The NamibRand nature reserve in Namibia has just been granted International Dark Sky Reserve (IDSR) status for its efforts to eliminate light pollution from within its boundaries.  This honour comes as a result of the reserve having expanded its conservation role to include preserving the star-filled nighttime skies that shine above its dunes and mountains.  IDSR’s are part of a worldwide programme by the International Dark-Sky Association to identify and protect the world’s last remaining sites where the sky at … Continue reading →