Tag Archives: Milky Way

Carnival of Space #596

Urban Astronomer avatarPosted on by

Welcome to the 596th Carnival of Space, where the best space science and astronomy articles gather round for your education and entertainment.  Come one, come all and find out what’s been happening off-world over the course of the past week! This week we have three submitters, with seven articles between them. Scroll down to click through into them: Universe Today Steam-Powered Spacecraft Could Explore the Asteroid Belt Forever, Refueling Itself in Space Geothermal Heating Could Make Life Possible on the … Continue reading →

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

Urban Astronomer avatarPosted on by

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

Urban Astronomer avatarPosted on by

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

Urban Astronomer avatarPosted on by

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 →