Browsing all posts in "Galaxies".

Black Holes Only Grow So Big

A few weeks ago there was a fairly cool paper on arXiv that suggested that supermassive black holes may only be able to grow so big.
This triggered several Astronomy Cast listeners to write and basically say “Huh?” We addressed this a little bit in today’s questions show (real show to follow tomorrow or Wednesday – [...]

Rethinking the Magellanic Clouds

I have to admit, there is a soft spot in my heart for conference proceedings. Once upon a time, when you wanted to quickly dive into a new area of astronomy you went to the university or observatory library and searched out the ASP or IAU conference proceedings on the topic of your passion, and [...]

Unifying Concepts and Language

Astronomy is filled with ideas that share too many different names. For instance, an Quasar is also a QSO is also an Active Galactic Nuclei. In our solar system, where we once had a bunch of specific objects, we now have terrestrial planets, gaseous planets, asteroids, and icy bodies (and 1 star too). As science [...]

Galaxy Evolution and the Language of Violence

One thing that has always fascinated me is how readily humans (myself certainly included) anthropomorphize everything around us. Even in the precise language of science, the tendency to use emotionally loaded words persists as we discuss the stress or strain on everything from physical structures (calculating the point of failure of building supports), and [...]

Three New Species Discovered in the Milky Way

Scientists this week have discovered three previously undiscovered species: a new species of reef lobster living off the cost of the Philippines, a new source of gamma-ray radiation associated with star forming regions, and a new class neutron star+supergiant binary found the Milky Way Galaxy. Each of these three discoveries leads it’s respective discoverers to believe there are a myriad of things still waiting to found in the oceans and outer space. In our cyinical era of “been there, done that,” it seems there is nothing new to wow the mind, but these three new critters indicate our planet and our universe still have a few surprises in store for explorers.

When Galaxies interact, it’s Not all Fun and Games

Today’s round of press conference started with the story of three systems that have mutually triggered fireworks in one another’s cores. Specifically, a gravitationally bound system of three quasars has been located at a distance of roughly 10.4 billion light years (z = 2.076). This is the first such triple quasar system that has been located.