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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Scientists found that the black hole at the center of our galaxy is spinning so fast its dragging space-time along. </li><li>Don't worry. The distortion won't affect us.</li></ul>A team of scientists has discovered that the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy is spinning so fast that it's squishing space-time.Using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory telescope, a team of physicists calculated the speed at which the supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*, is spinning, publishing their findings last month in <a target="_blank" href="https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/527/1/428/7326786?login=false#423149164">the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society</a>.They found that Sagittarius A* — located 26,000 light-years away from Earth, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/supermassive-black-hole-sagittarius/">according to NASA</a> — is spinning so fast that it's actually dragging surrounding space-time along with it, squishing it down like a football, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/28/world/sagittarius-a-black-hole-spin-space-time-scn/index.html">CNN reported</a>."With this spin, Sagittarius A* will be dramatically altering the shape of space-time in its vicinity," Ruth Daly, the lead author on the study, told CNN. "We're used to thinking and living in a world where all the spatial dimensions are equivalent — the distance to the ceiling and the distance to the wall and the distance to the floor … they all sort of are linear, it's not like one is totally squished up compared to the others.""But if you have a rapidly rotating black hole, the space-time around it is not symmetric," Daly said, according to CNN. "The spinning black hole is dragging all of the space-time around with it … it squishes down the space-time, and it sort of looks like a football."That may sound alarming, but don't worry; the black hole is way too far away to affect us here on Earth.But, Daly said, understanding how black holes function can help scientists learn more about the formation and evolution of galaxies like our own.

The black hole at the center of the Milky Way is spinning so fast, it's squishing space-time down like a football

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Spiral galaxies like the Milky Way are surprisingly rare in our galactic neighborhood.</li><li>Astronomers have wondered why for years, and now they may have an answer.</li></ul>Galaxies come in many shapes and sizes. The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/james-webb-telescope-new-image-milky-way-colorful-heart-2023-11">Milky Way</a>, for example, is a spiral galaxy because of the way that stars, dust, and gas spiral out from the center of the galaxy.But <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photo-oldest-spiral-galaxy-formed-billion-years-earlier-than-thought-2021-5?r=US&amp;IR=T">spiral galaxies</a> like ours are surprisingly rare in our galactic neighborhood, and for years, astronomers have wondered why since the 1960s.Now, they may finally have an answer, according to a new study published in the peer-reviewed journal <a target="_blank" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=b2aebdde3d997c79b253f5a8cf5ff5412f3bc8c606ec5dc4212b7cfe67070f28&amp;postID=656622febb2875d248beea58&amp;postSlug=astronomers-may-know-why-milky-way-galaxy-rare-2023-11&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fs41550-023-02130-6">Nature Astronomy</a> earlier this month.<h2>A turbulent past</h2>Using a supercomputer, researchers turned back the clock to approximately <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-black-hole-james-webb-space-telescope-discovery-early-universe-2023-11">13.8 billion years ago</a> when our galaxy and those around it were just starting to form.The researchers simulated the evolution of our galactic neighborhood to see what may have happened over billions of years to make spiral galaxies so rare in our corner of the cosmos.They found evidence of a turbulent past. The simulation showed that galaxies in dense clusters, like the one our Milky Way calls home, experienced <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-james-webb-telescope-question-mark-space-galaxies-colliding-2023-8">frequent collisions and mergers</a>.<h2>When galaxies collide</h2>When galaxies merge, they can form a whole new type of galaxy. For example, when two spiral <a target="_blank" href="http://astronomy.nmsu.edu/geas/lectures/lecture29/slide05.html#:~:text=Many%20ellipticals%20are%20believed%20to,stars%20rotating%20in%20all%20directions.">galaxies collide</a>, it's thought to create what's called an elliptical galaxy.That's what both observations of our nearby universe and the simulations showed: Our galactic neighborhood has plenty of elliptical galaxies but very few spiral galaxies, suggesting that our Milky Way somehow survived amidst a chaotic scenario of galactic bumper cars over the age of the universe."Our simulation reveals the intimate details of the formation of galaxies such as the transformation of spirals into ellipticals through galaxy mergers," said co-author Carlos Frenk with the Institute for Computational Cosmology at Durham University <a target="_blank" href="https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1008389">in a statement.</a>

Scientists think they've finally solved the decades-long mystery of why our Milky Way galaxy is so rare

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A star positioned near the center of the Milky Way seems to have come from outside of our galaxy. </li><li>The interloper is thought to have traveled from a galaxy that has since disappeared. </li></ul>Scientists have spotted a star near the center of the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/young-stars-appear-milky-way-edge-galaxy-collision-2020-1">Milky Way</a> that shouldn't be there.A study published Monday suggests SO-6, a star located about 0.04 light-years from the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/milky-way-black-hole-spinning-fast-squishing-space-time-2023-11">black hole at the center of our galaxy</a>, could be an extragalactic star that traveled more than 50,000 light years to reach our galaxy's heart.This is the first study to show that a star from outside our galaxy could end up in the middle of it.The findings could help explain a long-standing galactic mystery: where do stars near the black hole come from? <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/milky-way-galaxy-black-hole-lights-up-suddenly-2019-8">Sagittarius A*</a>, the black hole inside our galaxy, is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/james-webb-space-telescope-spots-most-distant-supermassive-black-hole-2023-7">supermassive</a> so its gravity is too intense for stars to be born in that area.<div type="image" title="milky way galaxy with zoomed in section on black hole" height="1041" width="1041" msid="105845077" hostid="261" sizebytes="51246"></div>To identify its origins, a team of scientists led by Shogo Nishiyama at Miyagi University of Education in Japan, studied the stars's composition using the Subaru Telescope, a 26-foot-wide observatory in Hawaii.They found the star was made of chemicals more often seen in <a target="_blank" href="https://subarutelescope.org/en/results/2023/12/03/3319.html">smaller galaxies that float outside the Milky Way,</a> like the Small Magellanic Cloud and the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy.The most likely theory is that SO-6 was born in a small galaxy that once orbited the Milky Way but has since disintegrated.The orphaned star, which is at least 10 billion years old, would have then been grabbed by the Milky Way's gravitational pull. It traveled at least 50,000 light years to reach Sagittarius A*, though it may have gone even farther than that as it's more likely to have gone in a spiral rather than a straight line.Scientists will now work to confirm the origin of SO-6, as well as determine if it traveled alone or with companions, lead scientist Nishiyama said."With further investigation, we hope to unravel the mysteries of stars near the supermassive black hole," he added.

A mysterious star from outside the Milky Way has somehow ended up near our galaxy's supermassive black hole

<ul class="summary-list"><li>NASA's James Webb Space Telescope captured a stunning image near the heart of the Milky Way.</li><li>The chaotic region appears brilliantly colorful, glittering with the light of 500,000 stars.</li></ul>NASA's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mom-revives-her-career-mission-planner-james-webb-space-telescope-2023-9">James Webb Space Telescope</a> has captured a colorful, glittering image of a chaotic region near the center of our home galaxy, the Milky Way. At the center of the Milky Way, lies a rapidly spinning supermassive black hole that violently warps the very space-time around it, according to research recently published in the peer-reviewed journal <a target="_blank" class="hawk-link-parsed" href="https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/527/1/428/7326786">Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society</a>.Nearby are, "turbulent, magnetized gas clouds that are <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-james-webb-space-telescope-captures-star-birth-formation-2023-7">forming stars</a>," said Rubén Fedriani of the Instituto Astrofísica de Andalucía in Spain, in a NASA press release.That's exactly what you're seeing in this stunning new JWST image that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nasa.gov/missions/webb/nasas-webb-reveals-new-features-in-heart-of-milky-way/">NASA released</a> on Monday. The image is of the star-forming region called Sagittarius C. <h2>The perfect place to study stars</h2>Sagittarius C lives only 300 light-years away from the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/first-image-reveals-black-hole-at-milky-way-galaxy-center-2022-5">black hole at the center of our galaxy</a>, which is basically right next door compared to Earth, which is located 25,000 light-years away, per NASA. It's the perfect place for astronomers to study how a generic clump of gas can burst to life in the form of a star that then lives for millions to billions of years."The galactic center is the most extreme environment in our <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/astronomers-discover-fastest-runaway-stars-in-milky-way-galaxy-2023-6">Milky Way galaxy</a>, where current theories of star formation can be put to their most rigorous test," said Jonathan Tan, a professor at the University of Virginia, in the press release.<h2>Revealing never-before-seen objects in our galaxy</h2>Digging into the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-james-webb-space-telescope-best-images-from-first-year-2022-12">JWST image</a> and its wealth of data, astronomers discovered something they'd never seen before. Check out the bright pink cluster circled in orange near the center of the annotated image below:<div type="image" title="image of stars in milky way with features identified" height="720" width="1280" msid="105394202" hostid="261"></div>The cluster is what's called a protostar cluster. Protostars are the early stages of a star. They're compact clumps of gas that just haven't generated enough heat and pressure in their cores, yet, to qualify as a star. Protostars are usually surrounded by dust, which can make them difficult to observe with visible light, according to <a target="_blank" href="https://lco.global/spacebook/stars/protostar/">Las Cumbres Observatory</a>. However, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/times-nasa-webb-space-telescope-spotted-something-hubble-missed">JWST captures infrared light</a> that can see through the dust, making it an ideal instrument for studying protostars. And the powerful space telescope did not disappoint in its new image. In the center of the cluster, JWST revealed a giant protostar 30 times the mass of our sun that astronomers had never seen before, per NASA. Eventually, this enormous protostar will form into a massive star many times more massive than our sun. Massive stars like this don't have very long to live because they burn through their life's fuel very quickly. "In a few million years' time, the ultra-massive object will explode as a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-james-webb-telescope-reveal-new-detail-iconic-supernova-2023-8">supernova</a>, in contrast to stars with masses similar to our sun's that can survive for billions of years," journalist Keith Cooper wrote for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.space.com/star-factory-galactic-center-james-webb-space-telescope">Space.com</a>.<h2>Hundreds of thousands of stars</h2><div type="image" title="An illustration of the James Webb Space Telescope in space." height="429" width="815" msid="105425466" hostid="261" sizebytes="35092"></div>Scientists estimate there are 500,000 stars in the new image.The bright blue section of the photo is a huge emission of ionized hydrogen that results from young massive stars spewing out energetic photons, NASA said. Within the wisps of blue are needle-like structures that shoot out in all directions without rhyme or reason, according to the agency.The sheer size of the cyan-colored region was somewhat of a surprise to scientists, who need to investigate further, NASA said."Webb has provided us with a ton of data on this extreme environment, and we are just starting to dig into it," Fedriani said in the press release.

James Webb Telescope captures colorful, glittering image of the chaotic center of the Milky Way galaxy, revealing never-before-seen details

25 striking photos from the 2023 Milky Way Photographer of the Year contest

Observations made by a small spacecraft called <keyword id="6720497" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="halosat">HaloSat</keyword> have shown that the <keyword id="67503" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="milky-way">Milky Way</keyword> galaxy is surrounded by a clumpy halo of hot gases that is continually being supplied with material ejected by birthing or <keyword id="10138629" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="DYING-STARS">dying stars</keyword>. A halo is a large region filled with hot gas that surrounds a galaxy, also known as a "circumgalactic medium." The heated gaseous halo around the Milky Way was the incubator for the Milky Way's formation some 13 billion years ago and could help solve a longstanding puzzle about where the missing matter of the universe might reside. In the new NASA-funded study published in the journal Nature Astronomy, the researchers concluded the circumgalactic medium has a disk-like geometry, based on the intensity of X-ray emissions coming from it. "The X-ray emissions are stronger above the parts of the Milky Way where star formation is more vigorous," said Philip Kaaret, Professor at the University of Iowa and corresponding author on the study. "That suggests the circumgalactic medium is related to star formation, and it is likely we are seeing gas that previously fell into the Milky Way, made stars, and now is being recycled into the circumgalactic medium." Every galaxy has a circumgalactic medium, and these regions are crucial to understanding not only how galaxies formed and evolved but also how the universe progressed from a kernel of helium and hydrogen to a cosmological expanse teeming with stars, planets, comets, and all other sorts of celestial constituents. HaloSat searches for baryonic matter -- that is, the same kind of particles that compose the visible world -- believed to be missing since the universe's birth. The satellite has been observing the Milky Way's circumgalactic medium for evidence that the missing baryonic matter may reside there. Baryonic matter is distinct from dark matter, which is invisible and does not interact through any force except gravity. Scientists can only account for about two-thirds of the baryonic matter that should be present in the universe. To look for the missing matter, Kaaret and his team wanted to get a better handle on the circumgalactic medium's configuration. More specifically, the researchers wanted to find out how big the circumgalactic medium really is. If it is a huge, extended halo that is many times the size of our galaxy, it could house enough material to solve the missing baryonic question. But if the circumgalactic medium is mostly comprised of recycled material, it would be a relatively thin, puffy layer of gas and an unlikely host of the missing baryonic matter. "What we've done is definitely show that there's a high-density part of the circumgalactic medium that's bright in X-rays," Kaaret says. "But there still could be a really big, extended halo that is just dim in X-rays. And it might be harder to see that dim, extended halo because there's this bright emission disk in the way. "So it turns out with HaloSat alone, we really can't say whether or not there really is this extended halo around the Milky Way," Kaaret said. HaloSat is a NASA CubeSat mission led by the University of Iowa. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/nokia-is-set-to-build-the-first-4g-network-on-the-moon-for-nasa-it-will-eventually-be-upgraded-to-5g/articleshow/78763251.cms">Nokia is set to build the first 4G network on the Moon for NASA — it will eventually be upgraded to 5G</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/the-moon-photobombed-nasas-view-of-the-sun/articleshow/78762020.cms">The Moon photobombs NASA's view of the Sun</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/wipro-wins-five-year-contract-with-europes-third-largest-producer-of-clean-electricity/articleshow/78761079.cms">Wipro wins five-year contract with Europe’s third-largest producer of clean electricity</a>

The Milky Way is recycling its gases to form a clumpy halo

Using <keyword id="6360409" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nasa">NASA</keyword>'s <keyword id="145693" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Hubble-Space-Telescope">Hubble Space Telescope</keyword>, scientists have mapped the immense envelope of gas, called a halo, surrounding the <keyword id="1077809" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Andromeda-galaxy">Andromeda galaxy</keyword>, our nearest large galactic neighbour. This tenuous, nearly invisible halo of diffuse plasma extends 1.3 million light-years from the galaxy -- about halfway to our <keyword id="67503" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="milky-way">Milky Way</keyword> -- and as far as two million light-years in some directions, said the study published in The Astrophysical Journal. This means that Andromeda's halo is already bumping into the halo of our own galaxy. The scientists also found that the halo has a layered structure, with two main nested and distinct shells of gas. "Understanding the huge halos of gas surrounding galaxies is immensely important," explained co-investigator Samantha Berek of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, US. "This reservoir of gas contains fuel for future star formation within the galaxy, as well as outflows from events such as supernovae," Berek said, adding that it is full of clues regarding the past and future evolution of the galaxy. A signature of this activity is the team's discovery of a large amount of heavy elements in the gaseous halo of Andromeda. Heavier elements are cooked up in the interiors of stars and then ejected into space -- sometimes violently as a star dies. The halo is then contaminated with this material from stellar explosions. The Andromeda galaxy, also known as M31, is a majestic spiral of perhaps as many as one trillion stars and comparable in size to our Milky Way. At a distance of 2.5 million light-years, it is so close to us that the galaxy appears as a cigar-shaped smudge of light high in the autumn sky. If its gaseous halo could be viewed with the naked eye, this would easily be the biggest feature on the night-time sky. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/defense/news/india-likely-to-introduce-a-second-defence-import-embargo-list-by-the-end-of-year-as-it-chases-down-5-billion-in-exports/articleshow/77797223.cms">India likely to introduce a second defence ‘import embargo’ list by the end of year as it chases down $5 billion in exports</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/markets/news/there-arent-enough-shares-of-hdfc-bank-indusind-bank-and-kotak-bank-that-foreign-investors-can-buy/articleshow/77798108.cms">There aren’t enough shares of HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank and Kotak Bank that foreign investors can buy</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/covid-19-strikes-ten-of-the-50-surviving-members-of-the-great-andamanese-tribe/articleshow/77797765.cms">COVID-19 strikes ten of the 50 surviving members of the Great Andamanese tribe</a>

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope maps giant halo around Milk Way's closest neighbour

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A planet five times the size of Earth was found to be the shiniest planet outside our solar system. </li><li>Its mirror-like layer of clouds is laced with scorching titanium that rains down on its surface.</li></ul>Astronomers have spotted the shiniest known planet in the Milky Way, and it has metal clouds that appear to be raining down titanium droplets. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-exoplanets-discovered-astronomers-find-water-alien-worlds-life-2023-1">Exoplanet</a> LTT9779 b, which orbits a star about 262 light-years from Earth, is so reflective it acts almost like a mirror, the European Space Agency (ESA) <a href="https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Cheops/Cheops_shows_scorching_exoplanet_acts_like_a_mirror" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a press release.This planet's hot metal atmosphere is defying astronomers' rules for how planets of this size should behave."It's a planet that shouldn't exist," said Vivien Parmentier, a researcher at the Observatory of Côte d'Azur.<h2>Hot clouds of molten titanium</h2><div type="image" title="The exoplanet appears to have an atmosphere layeres with white and green strippes." height="1010" width="1346" msid="101702326" hostid="261" sizebytes="11396"></div>Exoplanet LTT9779 b was <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/602431" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first spotted in 2020</a>, but it's only recently that ESA discovered how shiny it truly is. Thanks to the agency's <a href="https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Cheopshttps://www.businessinsider.com/space-telescope-cheops-launch-watch-live-2019-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CHEOPS satellite</a>, which studies exoplanets, scientists found the planet reflects about 80% of the light it receives.By comparison, Earth, which is fairly reflective, only bounces back 30% of its sunlight. Venus, the solar system's shiniest planet, reflects 75% of the sunlight.Scientists believe the planet's mirror-like quality is due to the composition of its atmosphere. The metallic clouds that surround the planet are mostly made of silicate – the stuff that makes up sand and glass — and metals like titanium, per ESA. "Imagine a burning world, close to its star, with heavy clouds of metals floating aloft, raining down titanium droplets," said study co-author James Jenkins, an astronomer of Diego Portales University and CATA.And it's precisely this bizarre atmosphere that's fascinating scientists.<h2>A Neptune-like planet with an atmosphere that shouldn't exist</h2><div type="image" title="An animation shows how close the exoplanet is to its sun" height="300" width="600" msid="101702330" hostid="261" sizebytes="2052"></div>Exoplanet LTT9779 b is really close to its star. It is so close it orbits it in just under a day. It's also very big and very hot, about 3,6oo degrees Fahrenheit, which means it's similar to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/james-webb-space-telescope-captures-clearest-image-of-neptunes-rings-2022-9">Neptune</a>. And therein lies the conundrum. Neptune is very far away from the sun. Every time a planet has been found orbiting its star that closely before, it has either been a huge gas giant, similar to Jupiter, or a barren tiny rock planet smaller than Earth."We expect planets like this to have their atmosphere blown away by their star, leaving behind bare rock," Parmentier said.The secret may lie in the composition of the clouds themselves. "We believe these metal clouds help the planet to survive" in these conditions said study author Sergio Hoyer of the Marseille Astrophysics Laboratory."The clouds reflect light and stop the planet from getting too hot and evaporating. Meanwhile, being highly metallic makes the planet and its atmosphere heavy and harder to blow away," he said. The findings were published in the journal <a href="https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2023/07/aa46117-23/aa46117-23.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Astronomy &amp; Astrophysics</a> Monday.

You Searched For "Milky Way" and got 8 results

The black hole at the center of the Milky Way is spinning so fast, it's squishing space-time down like a football

Grace Eliza Goodwin

Scientists think they've finally solved the decades-long mystery of why our Milky Way galaxy is so rare

Sonam Sheth

A mysterious star from outside the Milky Way has somehow ended up near our galaxy's supermassive black hole

Marianne Guenot

James Webb Telescope captures colorful, glittering image of the chaotic center of the Milky Way galaxy, revealing never-before-seen details

Grace Eliza Goodwin

25 striking photos from the 2023 Milky Way Photographer of the Year contest

Mikhaila Friel

The Milky Way is recycling its gases to form a clumpy halo

IANS

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope maps giant halo around Milk Way's closest neighbour

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The Milky Way's shiniest known planet has metal clouds that rain down titanium. Astronomers say it 'shouldn't exist.'

Marianne Guenot

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