The discovery of a neutron star emitting unusual radio signals is rewriting our understanding of these unique star systems. My colleagues and I (the MeerTRAP team) made the discovery when observing the Vela-X 1 region of the Milky Way about 1,300 light years away from Earth, using the MeerKAT radio telescope in

Continue reading This newly discovered neutron star might light the way for a whole new class of stellar object

There’s a monster lurking in the heart of our galaxy, and we may get our first glimpses of it tonight. At 11pm AEST, an international team of scientists will reveal what they’re calling a “groundbreaking” discovery from our galactic centre — and you’ll be able to watch it live. This image,

Continue reading Event Horizon Telescope set to reveal ‘exciting results’ about the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way

When a star explodes and dies in a supernova, it takes on a new life of sorts. Pulsars are the extremely rapidly rotating objects left over after massive stars have exhausted their fuel supply. They are extremely dense, with a mass similar to the Sun crammed into a region the

Continue reading We’ve used a new technique to discover the brightest radio pulsar outside our own galaxy

Could life survive around the nearest stars? In collaboration with the Breakthrough Initiative, Saber Astronautics and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Professor Peter Tuthill is leading TOLIMAN, a project to discover if the nearest stars have planets that could support life. A simulated view of the Alpha Centauri binary through the

Continue reading Worlds next door: looking for habitable planets around Alpha Centauri

The timescales in which star-forming galaxies deplete their gas is found to be short relative to the age of the Universe. This points to the conclusion that galaxies must have a way to replenish their gas reservoirs and indeed, early cosmological simulations reveal cold gas being channeled along dark matter

Continue reading A FLASH combination: ASKAP and MUSE sniff out gas around galaxies

In early 2020, we detected an unusual radio signal coming from somewhere near the centre of our galaxy. The signal blinked on and off, growing 100 times brighter and dimmer over time. What’s more, the radio waves in the signal had an uncommon “circular polarisation”, which means the electric field in the

Continue reading We found a mysterious flashing radio signal from near the centre of the galaxy

Researchers have created a model of the evolution of the Milky Way which explains how key chemical distributions in the galaxy’s stars came to be. One of the biggest questions in astronomy is related to how our home galaxy, the Milky Way, came to be in its current state. Whilst

Continue reading Galactic Archaeology and Modeling the Milky Way

Galaxies are unfathomably huge, dynamic beasts made up of stars that burst into and out of life in cosmic blinks of an eye. Yet we’ve barely been able to observe the mysterious life cycles of galaxies beyond our own. Now, spectacular images of galaxies just next door to the Milky Way, captured

Continue reading Stunning images of ‘galactic fireworks’ hold the secrets of how stars form

The first detailed cross-section of a galaxy broadly similar to the Milky Way, published today, reveals that our galaxy evolved gradually, instead of being the result of a violent mash-up. The finding throws the origin story of our home into doubt. Galaxy UGC 10738, seen edge-on through the European Southern

Continue reading Detailed cross-section of another galaxy reveals surprising similarities to our home