Astronomers have used U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NSF NRAO) radio telescopes in Chile and New Mexico to peer through cosmic smoke and haze, building one of the clearest pictures yet of how giant clusters of young stars are born in the hearts of nearby galaxies.
A team of scientists has used NASA’s Goldstone Solar System Radar and the U.S. National Science Foundation Green Bank Telescope (NSF GBT) to carry out the most extensive radar study to date of Europa, the ocean world orbiting Jupiter.
Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have identified a surprisingly calm region of gas within the turbulent center of the Milky Way, offering new clues about how stars begin to form even in extreme environments. This finding suggests that the first steps of star birth may unfold in similar ways across very different regions of our galaxy.
Astronomers using the U.S. National Science Foundation Very Large Array (NSF VLA) have found that when a supermassive black hole tears apart an unlucky star, the fireworks are not over when the first flash fades. Years after the initial outburst, many of these black holes “burp” out streams of material that slam into surrounding gas and glow in radio waves.