galaxies

Science

Hubble Sees A Galaxy 13.4 Billion Years In The Past, Breaking Distance Record

8:21pm March 04, 2016

by Bill Chappell

Looking from Earth, it's in an area just above where the handle of the Big Dipper meets its cup — or, if you prefer, it's just above Ursa Major's rump.

The view of the universe known as the Hubble Deep Field, presented in 1996, shows classical spiral and elliptical shaped galaxies, as well as a variety of other galaxy shapes.

Why Do Most Galaxies Die? It's A Case Of Strangulation, Scientists Say

3:09pm May 15, 2015

by Scott Neuman

A team in England looked at thousands of galaxies that had stopped forming stars and determined that the vast majority of them showed signs that their stellar fuel supply had been choked off.

An image of the galaxy EGS-zs8-1, which set a new distance record after researchers determined it was more than 13 billion light-years away.

Science

At 13 Billion Light-Years Away, Galaxy Is Farthest To Be Measured From Earth

5:57pm May 08, 2015

by Bill Chappell

A new glimpse of what the universe looked like in its youth has been captured. Researchers say light from galaxy EGS-zs8-1 has spent the past 13 billion years traveling to Earth.

The Hooker 100-inch reflecting telescope at the Mount Wilson Observatory, just outside Los Angeles. Edwin Hubble's chair, on an elevating platform, is visible at left. A view from this scope first told Hubble our galaxy isn't the only one.

Hubble's Other Telescope And The Day It Rocked Our World

12:36pm April 25, 2015

by Joe Palca

Amid this week's hoopla celebrating the Hubble Space Telescope, don't forget the clever astronomer for whom the space scope was named. In the 1920s, he changed our sense of ourselves and the universe.

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(Left) This is one of two cameras that the telescope originally carried, and it has since been replaced with a more up-to-date version. (Right) Workers study Hubble's 8-foot main mirror. After launch the mirror was found to have a problem, which astronaut

After 25 Years, The Hubble Space Telescope Still Wows Humanity

4:26pm April 24, 2015

by Geoff Brumfiel

Launched shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Hubble telescope isn't showing its age. Astronomers and other fans hope this old charmer will be useful for many years to come.

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Australia's giant Parkes radio telescope detected a "fast radio burst," or FRB, last May. Researchers call FRBs, whose origins haven't been explained, "tantalizing mysteries of the radio sky."

Science

Origin Unknown: Study Says Blast Of Radio Waves Came From Outside Our Galaxy

9:52am January 20, 2015

by Bill Chappell

Scientists call them "fast radio bursts," or FRBs: mysterious pulses of radio waves coming from far, far away. Researchers in Australia say they've observed one in real time.

A negative image of Kks3, made using the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope. The core of the galaxy is the right hand dark object at the top center of the image.

Dwarf Galaxy, Long Overlooked, Discovered In Our 'Hood

2:48pm December 27, 2014

by Scott Neuman

Tiny Kks3, 7 million light years distant, is made up mostly of star stuff that's just a billion or so years younger than the Big Bang.