Bad space weather may make life impossible near Proxima Centauri
If you look up in the southern sky you can see the “pointer” stars, pointing towards the Southern Cross. One of these pointers is Alpha Centauri, which is actually a pair of Sun-like stars that are too close together to tell apart by eye. There is a third member of the Alpha Centauri system as …
We’ve mapped a million previously undiscovered galaxies beyond the Milky Way. Take the virtual tour here.
Astronomers have mapped about a million previously undiscovered galaxies beyond the Milky Way, in the most detailed survey of the southern sky ever carried out using radio waves. The Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey (or RACS) has placed the CSIRO’s Australian SKA Pathfinder radio telescope (ASKAP) firmly on the international astronomy map. While past surveys have …
Playing detective on a galactic scale: huge new dataset will solve multiple Milky Way mysteries
Australian-led GALAH project releases chemical information for 600,000 stars. How do stars destroy lithium? Was a drastic change in the shape of the Milky Way caused by the sudden arrival of millions of stellar stowaways? These are just a couple of the astronomical questions likely to be answered following the release today of ‘GALAH DR3’, …
Astronomers find regular rhythms among pulsating stars
Through the noise, young stars reveal their inner workings An Australian-led team has solved the mystery of how some rapidly rotating young stars pulsate. Delta Scuti stars can now be studied in more detail thanks to the work of Professor Tim Bedding and colleagues. By listening to the beating hearts of stars, astronomers have for …
Galaxy’s arms elbow stars into our neighbourhood
Many stars that now live near the Sun were born somewhere else in the Galaxy. Astronomers have just worked out how these migrants reached their new homes and what set them travelling – important details of our Galaxy’s story.