Milky Way

Photos of These Bolivian Salt Flats Perfectly Reflect the Night Sky

Since finding a perfectly dark sky is rare in our electrically-powered world, we at Gizmodo like to highlight the areas that still remain and the photography projects that explore them. This week’s photo series comes from the Altiplano salt flats (Salar de Uyuni) in Bolivia, where a team journeyed to the site and captured some…

Tech News Carli Velocci Aug 5

Astronomers Have Discovered the Most Desolate Place in the Milky Way

An international team of astronomers has discovered a huge expanse of space near the center of the Milky Way that’s devoid of young stars. This stellar desert extends for 8,000 light-years from the galactic core—and it hasn’t produced new stars for hundreds of millions of years. In a new paper published in the Monthly Notices…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky Aug 2

The Majority of Americans Can’t See the Milky Way Anymore

Our world is getting brighter, as we turn more and more lights on across the planet. But all that light shining from the ground makes it harder to see the lights shining from the sky. It’s now gotten so bad that the Milky Way is almost impossible to see in most of the United States.…

Space & Spaceflight Ria Misra Jun 10

A Giant Galaxy Orbiting Our Own Just Appeared Out of Nowhere

Researchers scanning the skies just got a big surprise. They spotted a humongous galaxy orbiting our own, where none had been seen before. It appeared, seemingly, out of nowhere. So, just how did the newly-discovered Crater 2 manage to pull off this feat, like a deer leaping from the interstellar bushes to stare us down…

Space & Spaceflight Ria Misra Apr 15

These Newly Discovered ‘Super Galaxies’ Are the Biggest and Brightest Ever Seen

Looking at these spiral galaxies glowing brightly against the dark, it’s hard to imagine that they could be so easily missed—but they were right up until now, when an astronomical survey catalogued them as equal to the biggest and brightest galaxies ever seen. The galaxies pictured above, dubbed super spirals, were uncovered by the Sloan…

Space & Spaceflight Ria Misra Mar 17

New Milky Way Map Reveals a View of Our Galaxy Four Times Bigger Than We’ve Ever Seen

Seven years after their last effort at mapping our Galaxy, the APEX telescope has given us something even more complete: A map of the galaxy that covers four times the area of its previous best. This new map—that’s just one section of it above—is part of the ATLASGAL survey, an incredibly minute mapping mission which…

Space & Spaceflight Ria Misra Feb 24

Researchers Just Discovered Hundreds of Galaxies Hidden Behind the Milky Way

Astronomers just uncovered hundreds of hidden galaxies a mere 250 million light years away from Earth—well within our own galactic neighborhood. But how did they stay unknown for so long? The fault isn’t with them, it’s with our own Milky Way. The International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research just completed a survey, published today in…

Space & Spaceflight Ria Misra Feb 9

This Cosmic Fart Cloud Is On a Collision Course With Our Galaxy

The cosmos is littered with clouds of star-forming gas, but few are as well studied as the Smith Cloud, set to crash into our galaxy in 30 million years. God-fearing humans might ask: Where did this unholy dust ball come from, and why is it heading straight for us? Now, science has the answer. It’s…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone Jan 29

Astronomers Have Discovered a Previously Unknown Feature of the Milky Way

Using the VISTA telescope, astronomers in Chile have discovered a previously undetected band of young stars hidden away behind thick clouds of dust in the central bulge of the Milky Way. Sometimes observation leads to some unforeseen discoveries, as in the case of this study. Our Solar System is parked inside the Milky Way, which…

Space & Spaceflight George Dvorsky Oct 29

This Is the Most Complete Picture of the Milky Way Ever Taken

How big is this photo? So big that just by taking it, astronomers found over 50,000 new stars and other bright space objects. The picture comes from astronomers at Germany’s Ruhr-Universität Bochum. Of course, this wasn’t a simple matter of an instantaneous point-and-click shot. Instead, to get the full spread, researchers spent a full five…

Space & Spaceflight Ria Misra Oct 23

Video: What flying through the Milky Way must look like

Created by stitching together over 400,000 taken by the Spitzer Space Telescope, YouTube user daveachuk made this incredibly beautiful video that makes it feel as if you’re floating along the Milky Way. The finished footage is breathtaking and makes it seem as if you’re just looking out a window as you fly through the galaxy…

Sploid Casey Chan Jul 9

Our Best View Yet of the Galaxy’s Massive Electromagnetic Loop

Scientists working with the Planck Satellite have produced a new polarization map of the Milky Way in microwaves, providing an unprecedented view of a rather dramatic electromagnetic loop discovered over a half-century ago. Above: Loop 1, marked by the dashed ellipse, is the yellow feature above centre, shading to purple, and the purple arc below…

io9 George Dvorsky Jul 6

This Is Why It’s So Hard To Get An Accurate Map Of The Milky Way

Mapping the outer fringes of our universe is, obviously, a tremendously tricky task. But we should be able to get the parameters of our own galaxy pretty easily, right? Well, maybe not. And there’s a reason why. NASA released this new version of a Milky Way map with the most updated information about what we…

io9 Ria Misra Jun 5

Andromeda And The Milky Way Might Collide Sooner Than We Think

The merger of the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxy won’t happen for another 4 billion years, but the recent discovery of a massive halo of hot gas around Andromeda may mean our galaxies are already touching. Andromeda’s halo is gargantuan. Extending for at least 2 million light years, if we could see in our night…

io9 Bob King - Universe Today May 16

This Map Shows Just How Little We Know About Our Own Galaxy

Do you think you know the Milky Way? You don’t know the Milky Way. This new galaxy map from NASA shows the exoplanets we’ve discovered so far, including the newly confirmed exoplanet 13,000 lightyears away from us, catchily-named OGLE-2014-BLG-0124L. It’s about half as far away as the furthest exoplanet ever discovered, one of only a…

io9 Ria Misra Apr 15

Here’s What The Night Sky Would Have Looked Like 10 Billion Years Ago

Our sun has only been around for 4.5 billion years — which means it missed the cute early years of the Milky Way galaxy. If you were standing on a planet 10 billion years ago, when the Milky Way was relatively young, the night sky would have looked very different. Top image: NASA/ESA/Z. Levay (STScI)…

io9 Charlie Jane Anders Apr 9

Here’s What The Night Sky Would Look Like With Much Better Eyes

Not too long ago, most people on Earth could look up at night and see the Milky Way’s stunning ribbon of stars. But if you live in a modern city or suburb awash in light pollution, that dazzling view of the night sky is about as rare as a wild predator sighting. The Orion Nebula…

Space & Spaceflight Maddie Stone Mar 14

Scientists reveal the hidden structure and size of our galaxy

Our galaxy is not what we thought it was.According the paper Rings and Radial Waves in the Disk of the Milky Way—published in the Astrophysical Journal—we should call it the Corrugated Cardboard Galaxy, as shown in the diagram above. Even more surprising: It’s 50-percent larger than previously thought. According to Heidi Jo Newberg—professor at the…

Sploid Jesus Diaz Mar 12

Extraordinary sky view shows orientation of our galactic magnetic field

It may have not found the Big Bang’s smoking gun, but the Planck mission in the South Pole has detected something important: The orientation of the galactic magnetic field—”this image represents the emission from dust, a minor but crucial component that pervades our Milky Way galaxy.” The texture indicates the orientation of the galactic magnetic…

Sploid Jesus Diaz Feb 2

An Astonishingly Long Spiral Arm May Encircle The Entire Milky Way

Chinese astronomers have discovered a new spiral arm at the outer reaches of the Milky Way. But it might be an extension of a distant arm discovered back in 2011, suggesting that a majestic spiral arm encircles the entire galaxy. Our understanding of what the Milky Way looks like is inhibited by the fact that…

io9 George Dvorsky Jan 9

Photos of These Bolivian Salt Flats Perfectly Reflect the Night Sky

Astronomers Have Discovered the Most Desolate Place in the Milky Way

The Majority of Americans Can’t See the Milky Way Anymore

A Giant Galaxy Orbiting Our Own Just Appeared Out of Nowhere

These Newly Discovered ‘Super Galaxies’ Are the Biggest and Brightest Ever Seen

New Milky Way Map Reveals a View of Our Galaxy Four Times Bigger Than We’ve Ever Seen

Researchers Just Discovered Hundreds of Galaxies Hidden Behind the Milky Way

This Cosmic Fart Cloud Is On a Collision Course With Our Galaxy

Astronomers Have Discovered a Previously Unknown Feature of the Milky Way

This Is the Most Complete Picture of the Milky Way Ever Taken

Video: What flying through the Milky Way must look like

Our Best View Yet of the Galaxy’s Massive Electromagnetic Loop

This Is Why It’s So Hard To Get An Accurate Map Of The Milky Way

Andromeda And The Milky Way Might Collide Sooner Than We Think

This Map Shows Just How Little We Know About Our Own Galaxy

Here’s What The Night Sky Would Have Looked Like 10 Billion Years Ago

Here’s What The Night Sky Would Look Like With Much Better Eyes

Scientists reveal the hidden structure and size of our galaxy

Extraordinary sky view shows orientation of our galactic magnetic field

An Astonishingly Long Spiral Arm May Encircle The Entire Milky Way

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