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Illustration of the outflow (red) and gas flowing in to the quasar in the centre (blue). The cold clumps shown in the inset image are expelled out of the galaxy in a 'galactic hailstorm'

Galactic ‘hailstorm’ in the early Universe

16 Jan 2015

Astronomers have been able to peer back to the young Universe to determine how quasars – powered by supermassive black holes with the mass of a...

The first standardised way to measure stars has been developed for Gaia mission

Spectral ‘ruler’ is first standardised way to measure stars

24 Jun 2014

A team of astronomers have created the first standardised set of measurement guidelines for analysing and cataloguing stars.

At the outer fringes of the system, the gravitational influence of a hypothetical giant planet (bottom left) captures comets into a dense, massive swarm (right) where frequent collisions occur.

Galactic gas caused by colliding comets suggests mystery ‘shepherd’ exoplanet

06 Mar 2014

Latest research has uncovered a massive clump of carbon monoxide in a young solar system. The gas is the result of near constant collisions of icy...

Gaia-ESO data show Milky Way may have formed ‘inside-out’, and provide new insight into Galactic evolution

20 Jan 2014

Research on first data release from Gaia-ESO project suggests the Milky Way formed by expanding out from the centre, and reveals new insights into...

Artist impression of a rocky and water-rich asteroid being torn apart by the gravity of the white dwarf star GD 61.

Watery asteroid in dying star points to habitable exoplanets

10 Oct 2013

Latest research on rocky relics suggests a distant planetary system, now past its “death throes”, had very similar water ‘delivery system’ to our own...

A composite image of the region around Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way. X-ray emission is shown in blue.

Our galaxy’s giant black hole rejects ‘food’ because it’s too ‘hot’

29 Aug 2013

Astronomers working with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have seen the giant black hole Sagittarius A* rejecting its ‘food’ of vast gas clouds as...

This illustration is an artist’s impression of the thin, rocky debris disc discovered around the two Hyades white dwarfs. Rocky asteroids are thought to be perturbed by planets within the system and diverted inwards towards the star, where they break up,

‘Polluted’ stellar graveyard gives glimpse of our Solar System after Sun’s implosion

09 May 2013

Research indicates the existence of Earth-like planets in dead solar system through latest chemical analysis techniques

$Exoplanet imaging from Project 1640. After applying several advanced optical techniques the P1640 camera sees only a very small fraction of the light from HR8799 in this "speckle" pattern. The images of the 4 planets are still buried in this pattern, Credit: Ian Parry/Project 1640$