[“Our Milky Way” series] Years in the works. The announcement had been anticipated for awhile. The big news was released today: First image of Black Hole at the center of our galaxy. Heart of the Milky Way, eh. This is about more than synthesizing an image from photos taken by “telescopes on high mountaintops” positioned… Continue reading A ringed darkness at our Milky Way’s center – EHT images Sagittarius A*
Advances in all-sky surveys permit better visualization of the motions and dynamics inside our galaxy. And provide a better understanding of the evolution of the Milky Way. X-ray all-sky surveys As noted in this Space.com article, while “optical telescopes are much easier to design than X-ray telescopes … some of the most interesting objects in… Continue reading All-sky surveys – visualizing our dynamic galaxy
Yes, Virginia, there is a black hole in the center of our Milky Way [1]. What might be expected if you asked, à la a Jay Leno “Jaywalking” segment, some random people this question: “Where’s the nearest black hole?” Well, tallying those that know what a black hole is [5] … those that know what… Continue reading Yes, Virginia, there is a black hole in the center of our Milky Way
Popular media is abuzz today with news regarding research by NAOC (National Astronomical Observatories of Chinese Academy of Sciences) on the shape of our galaxy, the Milky Way, published in Nature Astronomy today. A peculiar disk. A new 3D model. Original article on Nature Astronomy: “An intuitive 3D map of the Galactic warp’s precession traced by classical… Continue reading The Milky Way’s shape — a peculiar disk
As I’ve noted elsewhere (Beyond the infinity of black holes), it wasn’t long ago — maybe a 100 years or so, that our view of the cosmos was much more circumscribed. Those who studied cosmology — physicists, astronomers, et al, viewed our cosmos in a much different way, at a much different scale — basically… Continue reading Beyond the Milky Way — a game-changing discovery
