Features Archives - Page 58 of 123

21 June 2021 Features

The Future of the Search for a Gravitational-Wave Background

Scientists have long looked for a faint, background gravitational-wave signal that should pervade our universe. Here’s what’s ahead in the search.

illustration of an active galactic nucleus with dusty disk and polar winds.

16 June 2021 Features

Probing Dust Close to Supermassive Black Holes

New infrared observations show us the innermost region at the heart of a distant, active galaxy.

28 May 2021 Features

New Insights from LIGO/Virgo’s Merging Black Holes

What’s the big picture behind the nearly 50 detected mergers of compact objects? The second gravitational-wave catalog is officially out — and the population statistics are in!

$A spiral galaxy seen nearly edge-on. The galaxy has a bright center that is surrounded by a disk of dark black and brown clouds. Dim blue light can be seen through the clouds. To the lower left of the galaxy, just below the disk, is a bright white object with diffraction spikes. The background is mostly dark, scattered with a few small dim white objects.$

26 May 2021 Features

Finding Just the Right Type of Detonation

Type Ia supernovae show enormous variety, but they may all form in the same way. If so, what mechanism produces them?

Illustration showing a distant galaxy emitting a pulse of light that passes through the halo of an intervening galaxy and arrives at the Milky Way.

21 May 2021 Features

What Fast Radio Bursts Tell Us About Galaxy Halos

Scientists are leveraging enigmatic bursts of radiation to learn about the hot, ionized gas around the Milky Way and other galaxies.

19 May 2021 Features

A Relic Black Hole in a Dwarf Galaxy

Could the recent discovery of a supermassive black hole in a low-mass galaxy be just the tip of the iceberg?

14 May 2021 Features

Seeing Star Formation at Cosmic Noon

A recent study examines gas flows around galaxies during the most intense time of star formation in the universe.

Illustration of a star surrounded by a bright, extended disk of dust and gas.

12 May 2021 Features

Accretion in Action in an Angled Disk

How does material move through an accretion disk to the young star at its center? Surprising detections from a fortuitously angled disk provide clues.

Simulation showing two black holes in the process of merging. A star field makes up the background.

10 May 2021 Features

Jumping the Gap to Probe Large Black Holes

Gravitational-wave detectors may soon find a new population of huge black holes. What can we hope to learn from them?

Photograph of a large, bright, elliptical galaxy in the midst of a broader galaxy field.

7 May 2021 Features

Searching for Universal Acceleration

Is dark matter the cause of strange behavior in galactic outskirts? Or is something else at work? Scientists have turned to elliptical galaxies in search of new clues.

Features RSS