The Milky Way

New model: Tiny primordial black holes may ignite some Type Ia supernovae

New model: Tiny primordial black holes may ignite some Type Ia supernovae

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Researchers have studied what would happen if a hypothetical asteroid-mass black hole intersected a white dwarf. The simulations reproduce some light curves and chemical signatures measured in supernovae, but do not prove that primordial black holes exist.
The black hole at the center of the Milky Way isn't tearing everything apart.

The black hole at the center of the Milky Way isn't tearing everything apart.

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The center of the Milky Way is considered an extreme environment where the tidal forces of the supermassive black hole can stretch and tear apart nearby objects. Tracking G2, D9, X3 and X7 suggests a more complex reality: the objects
Map of excess gamma radiation at the center of the Milky Way on an optical image of the galaxy

Does the mysterious glow at the center of the Milky Way actually come from dark matter?

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Researchers used more than a million simulations to analyze the location and energy of gamma-ray photons from the center of the Milky Way. The findings don't prove that dark matter is responsible for the radiation, but they weaken a key argument that
Hubble reveals a star-studded masterpiece: more than half a million ancient stars

Hubble reveals a star-studded masterpiece: more than half a million ancient stars

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The new image of the globular cluster Messier 3 was released to mark the 250th anniversary of the United States' independence. The distant cluster contains hundreds of variable stars, stars that appear young for their age, and two stellar populations that may indicate
A wide, detailed mosaic of millions of stars in the dense central region of the Milky Way.

Euclid Space Telescope Maps 60 Million Stars in the Dense Heart of the Milky Way

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A mosaic taken by the European Space Telescope over a period of about 26 hours is the largest and most detailed visible-light image of the center of the galaxy. The image is not intended to immediately discover new planets, but to provide a reference point
Simulation of an expanding mini-universe inside a gravity star forming a Gravastar

Theoretical model: A tiny universe may form inside a collapsing star

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Physicists have developed a dynamical solution to Einstein's equations in which an expanding region forms inside a collapsing star and stops the collapse. The result is a gravistar - a theoretical alternative to a black hole that has no singularity or event horizon
Artist's impression of the young Milky Way colliding with another galaxy about 10 billion years ago. Credit: Vasily Belokov, based on an image by Juan Carlos Muñoz/ESO, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA.

The Milky Way was rebuilt in an ancient collision and is already entering a new galactic dance with the Large Magellanic Cloud.

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Gaia data revealed that a dwarf galaxy that merged with the Milky Way about 8–11 billion years ago changed its structure and left “migratory” stars in the halo. Today, the Large Magellanic Cloud is already pulling our galaxy
Computer simulation of gas flowing around a binary system of protostars, with gas flows of different colors and a magnetic field that helps remove angular momentum

Magnetic fields may explain how binary star systems form

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Supercomputer simulations show that magnetic fields can subtract angular momentum from gas surrounding pairs of protostars, bringing them closer together and allowing the formation of a stable binary system. A similar mechanism may
An illustration of the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* at the center of the Milky Way. New research suggests that a nearby binary star system is creating small clumps of gas that are moving toward it. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

A double star near the black hole at the center of the Milky Way may be feeding it small gas clouds

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Observations and simulations led by the Max Planck Institute indicate that the star system IRS 16SW is creating compact clumps of gas, which are moving towards Sagittarius A* and contributing to its nutrition.
The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is a nearby dwarf galaxy and one of the Milky Way's closest neighbors. Credit: NASA, ESA, CXC, and the University of Potsdam, JPL-Caltech, and STScI

Collision between Magellanic Clouds may explain dwarf galaxy's unusual motion

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New research suggests that the Small Magellanic Cloud passed through the disk of the Large Magellanic Cloud several hundred million years ago. The collision disrupted the motion of stars and gas, and may require a reexamination of
Mass migration of twin suns from the center of the Milky Way. Credit: NAOJ

Our solar system may have escaped the dangerous center of the Milky Way 4-6 billion years ago

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Analysis of 6,594 solar twins from Gaia data suggests a mass migration of sun-like stars from the inner regions of the Milky Way, perhaps at a time when the galaxy's central pole was still forming.
Illustration of the Drake equation. (Credit : NOIRLab/AURA/NSF/P. Marenfeld)

How long do technological civilizations last? Iranian researchers suggest a ceiling of about 5,000 years

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A mathematical analysis of the Fermi Paradox suggests that if intelligent life is widespread in the galaxy, the fact that we have not detected any signals from it may indicate that most technological civilizations do not survive more than a few thousand years.
Artist's impression of the Green Bank Telescope collecting data on the center of the Milky Way. The circled image shows the black hole at the center of our galaxy, and a potential pulsar (unverified) nearby. Credit: Danielle Futselaar / Breakthrough Listen

Something is ticking near the Milky Way's supermassive black hole

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A sensitive radio survey by Breakthrough Listen has identified a candidate millisecond pulsar near Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy. If confirmed, the finding could enable unprecedented tests of general relativity.
The spiral galaxy Andromeda. Almost a duplicate of the Milky Way. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Why nearby galaxies are running away from us: Scientists have finally solved a fifty-year-old mystery

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An international team has built a “virtual twin” of the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxy environment and found that a flattened mass distribution, with large voids above and below, balances gravity and resolves a mystery that has been debated since the days of Edwin Hubble.
A map of the sky created by the Gaia space telescope. (credit: ESA)

Milky Way neutrino roadmap could guide hunt for galactic sources

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New model ranks regions in the galaxy where high neutrino flux is expected, in the context of massive stars and interstellar gas
Frontal (left) and side (right) images of a galactic gas disk. These images of gas spreading after a supernova explosion were created by the alternative deep learning model. Credit: RIKEN

New AI technology maps 100 billion stars in our galaxy with unprecedented accuracy and speed

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Combining a deep learning model with physical simulation saves decades of computation and allows for tracking both supernovae and long-term galactic evolution.
Gaia has revealed a giant wave moving outward from the center of the Milky Way. The image shows the Milky Way from the side: in the red areas the stars are “higher”, and in the blue areas they are “lower” relative to the disk. The white arrows show the vertical velocity directions. Credit: ESA/Gaia/DPAC, S. Payne-Wardenaar, E. Poggio et al. (2025).

Scientists detect a huge, unexplained wave rising in the Milky Way

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Gaia data reveals a massive wobble in the galaxy's disk that is deflecting stars to great distances – a phenomenon that is still unexplained
Artist's impression of the planet Kepler-168b in a habitable, rocky, potentially habitable zone. Credit: NASA Ames/NASA/JPL–Caltech/Tim Pyle (Caltech)

The nearest extraterrestrial civilization may be 33 light years away

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New study suggests intelligent life is rare for the Milky Way – and if another civilization exists, it is much older than us
Dark matter. Artificial intelligence visualization. Illustration: depositphotos.com

Fingerprints of dark matter: Scientists map hidden patterns in the early universe

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Rutgers University-led research reveals how Lyman-alpha-emitting galaxies provide clues about the place and role of dark matter in the evolution of the universe
A globular cluster (a white cluster of stars) naturally appears in high-resolution EDGE images. Credit: University of Surrey, Matt Orkney, Andrew Pontzen & Ethan Taylor

New simulations reveal: This is how globular clusters are born – and perhaps a new type of star system. Solving a 400-year-old mystery

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An international team of researchers has successfully reconstructed the formation of ancient, dense globular clusters in the universe using computer simulations. The simulations have also revealed candidates for a new celestial body – “globular cluster dwarfs” – that may have been hidden for a long time.
Mysterious "dark dwarfs" can shine forever by burning dark matter – and finding them could solve one of the universe's greatest mysteries. a href="https://depositphotos.com. ">Illustration: depositphotos.com

The stars that don't burn – they destroy dark matter

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Astronomers propose the existence of "dark dwarfs" - objects powered by energy from dark matter particles that can shine forever. Their discovery could shed light on one of the universe's greatest mysteries.
Illustration depicting the remnant of a star being thrown at tremendous speed into space from the scene of a supernova explosion caused by an interaction between a pair of white dwarfs.

Escape velocity: 2,000 kilometers per second – Research from the Technion reveals the origin of the fastest white dwarfs in the galaxy

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A team of researchers led by Dr. Hila Glantz and Prof. Hagai Peretz from the Technion found that a merger between special white dwarfs leads to a dramatic double explosion, leaving behind the remnants of stars that fly at dizzying speeds beyond the boundaries of the Milky Way.
Bubbles above and below the Milky Way galaxy. Illustration: Fermi Telescope on NASA's website

“Impossible” Cold Clouds Inside Fermi Bubbles Located Above and Below the Milky Way

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Discovery of dense clouds of neutral hydrogen at the center of vast structures challenges hypothesis about age and stability of Fermi bubbles
Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAOs) – the “sound of the Big Bang” – support the idea of a local vacuum. Credit: Gabriela Saccara, Perimeter Institute

New hypothesis: Earth may be inside a giant cosmic bubble that distorts the universe

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According to a new hypothesis by astronomers, Earth — and the entire Milky Way galaxy — may reside inside a giant, matter-poor hollow region about a billion light-years across. This region creates the illusion of
Artist's impression of the Milky Way galaxy. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

The Milky Way may be surrounded by a hundred previously unobserved hidden galaxies

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Researchers at Durham University have predicted using advanced simulations that there are dozens of faint galaxies orbiting the Milky Way – and new telescopes may soon detect them.
Comet 3I/ATLAS arrived in the Solar System from an older system located in the thick disk of the Galaxy. Illustration: Avi Blizovsky via DALEE

7-billion-year-old comet shows activity – and may originate from the depths of the galaxy

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3I/ATLAS, a rare interstellar comet that recently entered the solar system, shows signs of cometary activity and its orbit indicates an exit from the thick disk of the Milky Way
The Milky Way floats in the clear sky above the Cerro Tolulo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Credit: Nicole Firestone/Rutgers University

Cosmic baby boom: Astronomers catch blazing galaxies for the first time

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Scientists have revealed ancient galaxies in the midst of their first burst of star formation – a discovery that provides a rare glimpse into the earliest chapter in the history of galaxies like the Milky Way.
Our Possible Future: Three Scenarios for a Future Encounter Between the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxies: Top Left: The two galaxies pass each other at a distance of a million light years. Top Right: As the distance between them decreases to 500 light years, the friction exerted by dark matter causes them to approach for a close encounter. Bottom: A distance of 100 light years leads to a collision. (Courtesy: NASA / ESA)

The Andromeda Galaxy may not collide with the Milky Way – contrary to what we thought

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A new study based on data from the Gaia spacecraft raises a possibility: the expected galactic collision may not occur at all, or at least be significantly delayed.
ASKAP J1832 belongs to a rare group of objects in space that pulsate in radio waves every few tens of minutes, but what makes it unique is its emission in X-rays as well, as detected by NASA's powerful X-ray observatory, Chandra. This is the first time that X-ray signals have been observed from this type of object, known as "long-period radio phenomena." Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/ICRAR, Curtin Univ./Z. Wang et al.; Infrared: NASA/JPL/CalTech/IPAC; Radio: SARAO/MeerKAT; Image processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/N. Wolk

A new mystery in the galaxy's sky: a star that emits radio waves and X-rays at an extremely slow rate

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A star called ASKAP J1832 pulsates in both radio and X-rays every 44 minutes—a frequency much slower than any pulsar ever recorded. This unprecedented phenomenon hints at a
The disk of hot plasma surrounding Sagittarius A* – the Milky Way’s central black hole – constantly flickers and bubbles, as shown in this artist’s illustration. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralph Crawford (STScI)

The black hole at the center of the Milky Way is not resting – it is constantly bubbling.

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Long-term James Webb observations reveal dynamic changes in the plasma disk surrounding Sagittarius A*
A vast spiral galaxy alongside the Milky Way for a scale comparison of the universe. Credit: Bagchi and Ray et al/Hubble Space Telescope

Monstrous jets from black hole in spiral galaxy may foretell Milky Way's terrifying future

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A giant spiral galaxy with powerful jets from a black hole has shocked scientists, because it shows that even galaxies like ours can release dangerous radiation at some point.
This illustration shows a reconstruction of what the Firefly Galaxy looked like about 600 million years after the Big Bang without the stretching and distortion caused by gravitational lensing. It is based on images and data from the web. Credit: ASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI), Lamiya Mowla (Wellesley College), Guillaume Desprez (Saint Mary's University)

Webb Telescope Discovers Milky Way's Ancient Twin Twinkling from Cosmic Dawn

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The "Firefly" galaxy, discovered by the James Webb Space Telescope, existed just 600 million years after the Big Bang—with a mass similar to the young Milky Way. Gravitational lensing enabled a seamless observation
: First image: Researchers led by astronomers from the University of Michigan have discovered the smallest and faintest galaxy (encircled by a white ellipse) orbiting the Andromeda galaxy. Credit: CFHT/MegaCam/PAndAS (Principal Investigator: Alan McConaughey; Image Processing: Marcus Arias) Second image: Map of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) and its satellite galaxies, with the newly discovered galaxy, Andromeda XXXV, clearly highlighted. Credit: JM Arias et al. Astrophys. J. Lett. (2025)

Mysterious Galaxy "Andromeda XXXV" Subverts the Rules of Galactic Evolution

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Astronomers from the University of Michigan have revealed the smallest and faintest galaxy yet discovered around the Andromeda Galaxy, and their discovery raises new questions about the formation and survival of dwarf galaxies.
Artist's illustration of the SPHEREx spacecraft. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA launches SPHEREx, a space telescope that may rewrite the story of the universe's origins

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The SPHEREx telescope will create the most colorful map of the entire sky ever. Launching this weekend from Vandenberg Space Center in California, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket
The artist's concept shows stars near the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Each has a colored trail indicating its speed—the longer and redder the trail, the faster the star. NASA scientists recently discovered a candidate for an extremely fast star, depicted near the center of the image, accompanied by an orbiting planet. If confirmed, this pair would break the speed record for a known extrasolar planetary system. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (Caltech-IPAC)

NASA detects star and planet flying at record speeds of at least 540 kilometers per second

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The discovery of an extrasolar planet system at an unimaginable speed poses new research challenges in studying galaxy dynamics and the structure of intergalactic space.
Space Exploration Podcast with Professor Reinhard Ganzel. Photo: Tel Aviv University Spokesperson

Podcast: The Dark Secret of the Milky Way According to Nobel Prize Winner Prof. Reinhard Ganzel

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The Tel Aviv "360" podcast series is proud to host Nobel Prize winner in Physics (2020), Prof. Reinhard Ganzel, on the dark secret of the Milky Way. (English)
Stars in the Milky Way's thin central disk (the brightest region in this image from the Gaia spacecraft) contain more planets than stars located above and below this plane.

Galactic chaos at cosmic noon hinders planet formation in the Milky Way

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Peak star formation period, period of galactic chaos
A swirling galaxy with a GD-1 star stream and a dark matter halo. The illustration was created using DALEE and is not a scientific image.

Dark matter solves the mystery of the Milky Way's stellar streams

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New study suggests that a dense subhalo of self-interacting dark matter is responsible for the bulge and gap formations of the GD-1 stellar stream, challenging dark matter theories
The black hole of our Milky Way as seen in polarized light. Astronomers have for the first time been able to measure polarity, a hallmark of magnetic fields, so close to the rim of Sagittarius A*. The lines added to the image indicate the direction of polarization, which is related to the magnetic field around the shadow of the black hole. Credit: EHT Collaboration

Strong magnetic fields surround the Milky Way's central black hole

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The antenna galaxies are in the process of collisions. Credit: NASA

How cosmic collisions created the largest galaxies in the universe

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The study suggests that these galaxies were formed from large flows of cold gas and collisions between galaxies in the early universe, which led to the formation of stars at an extremely fast rate
A white dwarf orbits a rapidly spinning neutron star. The image was prepared using DALEE and is not a scientific image

716 revolutions per second: the fastest spinning neutron star in the Milky Way

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Using a telescope on the International Space Station, researchers have discovered a neutron star in the Milky Way that rotates at an incredible 716 times per second - among the fastest ever discovered
This collage shows a small selection of regions of the Milky Way captured as part of a map created from the most detailed infrared wavelength imaging of our galaxy. Here you can see, from left to right and from top to bottom: NGC 3576, NGC 6357, Messia 17, NGC 6188, Messia 22 and NGC 3603. All are clouds of gas and dust in which stars are formed, with the exception of Messia 22, which is a very dense group of ancient stars. Photo: European Southern Observatory ESO

The most detailed infrared map of the Milky Way has been published

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The images were taken with ESO's Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope (VISTA) in Chile and its VIRCAM infrared camera
The European Space Agency's (ESA) Gaia satellite reveals the Large Magellanic Cloud in spectacular detail, using radiation mapping instead of photography to show its bright, massive stars and prominent star-forming regions, such as Region 30 Degas. Credit: ESA/Gaia/DPAC.

The Large Magellanic Cloud: Star mapping changes our view of a nearby galaxy

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The European Space Agency's Gaia satellite creates a precise radiation map of the Large Magellanic Cloud, showing the massive stars and prominent star-forming regions
The milky way is used by the dung beetle for navigation at night. Image: University of South Australia

Innovative artificial intelligence sensor draws inspiration from dung beetles for night navigation using the Milky Way

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Dung beetles use the milky way at night to navigate. Engineers used the same technique to develop an artificial intelligence sensor for low-light navigation

Astronomers have discovered potential dark matter objects in space using pulsars

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These pulsars—neutron stars that rotate and emit beacon-like beams of radio waves that scan space—have been used to detect mysterious hidden masses.
A supernova explosion. Illustration: depositphotos.com

The unexpected revival of supernova 1181 

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Supernova 1181, produced by the dramatic collision of two white dwarf stars, was studied using a combination of historical records and modern astronomy. The remains, now identified in the constellation Cassiopeia, reveal a complex structure with
A simulation of a possible explanation for the speed of an L substar named CWISE J124909+362116.0 shows it as part of a binary star pair that ended in a supernova explosion of the white star. Credit: Adam Makarenko / WM Keck Observatory

An extremely fast star has been discovered speeding through the Milky Way at a speed of 2.1 million km/h

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The planet was discovered thanks to the efforts of 80 participants in a citizen science project called "Rear Worlds: Planet 9" and a team of astronomers from all over the United States
Simulation of a smooth halo of stars around the Milky Way. Figure: ESA

Gaia: The Milky Way's last major collision happened surprisingly recently

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An artist's rendering of the planet SPECULOOS-3 b orbiting its sun. The planet is the size of Earth, while its sun is slightly larger than Jupiter, but much more massive. Credit: NASA/JPL-CALTECH

Discovery of an Earth-sized planet orbiting the supercold dwarf star SPECULOOS-3

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The SPECULOOS project revealed the existence of an Earth-sized planet around SPECULOOS-3, a nearby star similar in size to Jupiter and twice as cold as our Sun
This image shows the sky goddess Nut, covered in stars, held aloft by her father, Shu, and towering over her brother with her back to the earth. On the left the rising sun (the falcon-headed god Re) sails up Nut's leg. On the right the setting sun sails down its arms to the outstretched arms of Osiris, who will recreate the sun in the underworld during the night. Credit: EA Wallis Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians, Vol. 2 (Methuen & Co., 1904).

Secrets of the stars: Scientists reveal the hidden role of the Milky Way in ancient Egyptian mythology

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New research reveals how the Milky Way emphasized the role of Nut, the Egyptian sky goddess
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