Summary: Peering deep into space — an astounding 90 percent of the way across the observable universe — astronomers have witnessed the beginnings of a gargantuan cosmic pileup, the impending collision of 14 young, starbursting galaxies. This ancient megamerger is destined to evolve into one of the most massive structures in the known universe: a...
A delegation of members from the United States House of Representatives visited the ALMA Observatory on April 4th. This visit was organized by the US Embassy in Chile, Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI) — the North American partner in the observatory — and ALMA. There were a total of 13 representatives from the House Committee on Science, Space...
Well, nuts. Last week, just five days ago, I wrote that astronomers had found evidence of rings of dust around Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to our own, and furthermore that there might be a ringed planet there. As I was literally drafting up that article, a different team of astronomers — using the very same data — were putting the final...
Nestled in the Ophiuchus star-forming region, 410 light-years from the Sun, a protoplanetary disk is slowly taking shape. Dust emission from AS 209 reveals a curious pattern of rings and gaps surrounding the young star. Protoplanetary disks are composed of gas and dust particles, forming after the collapse of a molecular cloud. As matter from the...