We’ve used a new technique to discover the brightest radio pulsar outside our own galaxy
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 size of Sydney. Pulsars emit …
Worlds next door: looking for habitable planets around Alpha Centauri
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 mission to discover new planets potentially capable of sustaining life around Earth’s nearest neighbour, …
A FLASH combination: ASKAP and MUSE sniff out gas around galaxies
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 filaments. At the same time, …
We found a mysterious flashing radio signal from near the centre of the galaxy
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 radio waves spirals around as …
Galactic Archaeology and Modeling the Milky Way
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 this might seem like it …
Stunning images of ‘galactic fireworks’ hold the secrets of how stars form
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 by an international team of …
Detailed cross-section of another galaxy reveals surprising similarities to our home
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. The first detailed cross-section of a galaxy broadly similar to the Milky Way, published …
Remnants of an old neighbour engulfed by the Milky Way
The paper, lead by Zhen Wan from USyd and co-authored by ASTRO 3D researchers and affiliates Jeffrey Simpson, Sarah Martell, Sanjib Sharma and Gayandhi De Silva, provides a new perspective about how galaxies evolve. The research looks at a star cluster that is in the process of being pulled into the Milky Way, and may very well be the last of its kind. What …
5 twinkling galaxies help us uncover the mystery of the Milky Way’s missing matter
We’ve all looked up at night and admired the brightly shining stars. Beyond making a gorgeous spectacle, measuring that light helps us learn about matter in our galaxy, the Milky Way. When astronomers add up all the ordinary matter detectable around us (such as in galaxies, stars and planets), they find only half the amount …
The secrets of 3000 galaxies laid bare
Completion of Australian-led astronomy project sheds light on the evolution of the Universe. The complex mechanics determining how galaxies spin, grow, cluster and die have been revealed following the release of all the data gathered during a massive seven-year Australian-led astronomy research project. The scientists observed 13 galaxies at a time, building to a total …