Tag Archive for 'Molecular cloud'

An artist’s impression of a black hole accretion. Image credit: John A. Paice.

Astronomers Observe Extraordinary Accretion Event in Distant Galaxy

May 15, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

AT2021lwx occurred nearly 8 billion years ago and was more than 10 times brighter than any known supernova explosion. The event was likely caused by the...

Ongoing star formation processes as observed by VIRCAM/VISTA in the VISIONS program. The top panel shows L1688 in the Ophiuchus star-forming complex, depicting several dozen prominent young stellar objects located within one of the closest embedded clusters to Earth. The young stars are surrounded by a highly structured cloud composed of gas and dust that is largely being shaped by young, optically revealed hot stars in the vicinity. The bottom panels further highlight the complex morphology of the gaseous, dusty neighborhood of partly concealed young stars in the Ophiuchus molecular clouds L1709 and L1689. Image credit: Meingast et al., doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202245771.

Astronomers Create Infrared Atlas of Five Nearby Star-Forming Regions

May 11, 2023 by News Staff

As part of the VISIONS survey program, astronomers have surveyed five nearby star-forming molecular cloud complexes associated with the constellations...

This artist’s impression shows a distant gas cloud that contains different chemical elements, illustrated here with schematic representations of various atoms. Image credit: L. Calçada / M. Kornmesser / ESO.

VLT Detects Chemical Signatures of Universe’s First Stars in Distant Gas Clouds

May 4, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have detected three distant gas clouds whose chemical composition matches what they expect from the...

This Hubble image shows NGC 1333, a reflection nebula located 1,000 light-years away in the northern constellation of Perseus. Image credit: NASA / ESA / STScI.

Hubble Captures NGC 1333 in Stunning 33rd Anniversary Image

Apr 20, 2023 by News Staff

This new photo of the reflection nebula NGC 1333 was taken in celebration of the 33rd anniversary of the launch of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope...

The protostar IRAS 04368+2557, shown in this Webb image, is embedded within LDN 1527, a cloud of material that is feeding its growth. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / J. DePasquale, STScI.

Webb Sees Hourglass-Like Nebula around Young Protostar

Nov 16, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) onboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have revealed new details surrounding the dark...

This Hubble image shows the dense core CB 130-3. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / STScI / C. Britt / T. Huard / A. Pagan.

Hubble Spots Carbon-Chain-Rich Molecular Cloud

Nov 14, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

The Hubble team has released a detailed photo taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of the orange molecular cloud CB 130-3. This Hubble image shows...

Sagittarius B2 is a giant molecular cloud of gas and dust that is located about 390 light-years from the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. Sagittarius B2 is the bright orange-red region to the middle left of the image, which is centered on the Galactic center. Image credit: ESO / APEX / MSX / IPAC / NASA.

ALMA Detects Interstellar Propanol and Its Isomer in Milky Way’s Center

Jul 5, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have detected two complex organic molecules — isopropanol (i-C3H7OH) and...

This image shows the Orion Molecular Clouds, the target of the VANDAM survey; yellow dots are the locations of the observed protostars on a blue background image made by Herschel; side panels show six young protostars imaged by ALMA (blue) and the VLA (orange). Image credit: NRAO / AUI / NSF.

Astronomers Find Protoplanetary Disks in Orion Molecular Clouds

Mar 25, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using NSF’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array have detected 97 disks of gas and dust around...

An artist’s illustration of the Local Bubble with star formation occurring on the bubble’s surface. Image credit: Leah Hustak, Space Telescope Science Institute.

1,000-Light-Year-Wide Local Bubble is Responsible for Formation of All Nearby, Young Stars

Jan 12, 2022 by News Staff

Space Telescope Science Institute astronomer and data visualization expert Dr. Catherine Zucker and her colleagues have shown how a chain of events beginning...

The location of the newly-discovered giant cavity within the Milky Way Galaxy is depicted on the right; a zoomed in view of the cavity (left) shows the Perseus and Taurus molecular clouds in blue and red, respectively; though they appear to sit within the cavity and touch, new 3D images of the clouds show they border the cavity and are quite a distance apart. Image credit: Alyssa Goodman / Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Astronomers Find Huge Spherical Cavity in Milky Way Galaxy

Sep 22, 2021 by News Staff

The 490-light-year-wide void is located among the constellations Perseus and Taurus, and was formed by one powerful supernova or a series of such events...

Clumps of molecular gas overlaid on Sagittarius A* circumnuclear disk as seen by ALMA in the CS(7-6) line. Yellow circles are thin clumps that are going to be shredded by the gravitational force of supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*. Green circles are dense enough to survive the tidal shredding but are not able to form stars. Purple/pink circles have the needed density to form stars, but no star formation has been observed. Image credit: Hsieh et al. / ALMA / EOS / NAOJ / NRAO.

ALMA Spots Quiescent Molecular Clouds and Tides around Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole

Sep 16, 2021 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have found thousands of dense gas clumps but, surprisingly, no star formation,...

Propionamide Detected in Space for First Time

Aug 23, 2021 by Natali Anderson

Propionamide (C2H5CONH2), a complex alkyl amide with twelve atoms, is the largest peptide-like molecule detected in space, according to a new study led...

Hubble’s image of the Orion Nebula with proplyd highlights. Image credit: NASA / ESA / M. Robberto, Space Telescope Science Institute & ESA / Hubble Space Telescope Orion Treasury Project Team / L. Ricci, ESO.

Massive Stars near Solar System’s Parent Molecular Cloud Affected Composition of Its Building Blocks

Jul 6, 2021 by News Staff

In 2011, planetary researchers using samples of the solar wind collected by NASA’s Genesis spacecraft found that solar system planetary bodies have a...

PAH molecules overlaid on the Taurus Molecular Cloud, a large blue-white cloud made of gas and dust with large and small stars of varying luminosities interspersed throughout. Aromatic molecule structures shown in order from left to right: 1-cyanonaphthalene, 1-cyano-cyclopentadiene, HC11N, 2-cyanonaphthalene, vinylcyanoacetylene, 2-cyano-cyclopentadiene, benzonitrile, E-cyanovinylacetylene, HC4NC, propargylcyanide. Image credit: M. Weiss / Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Meteoritic Polymers of Glycine Shed Light on Pre-Solar Space Chemistry

Jun 30, 2021 by News Staff

Asteroid material in chondritic Vigarano class alteration type 3 (CV3) meteorites provide a good record of complex chemistry present when or before our...

This overlay shows radio (orange) and infrared images of the giant molecular cloud W49A, where new stars are being formed. Image credit: De Pree et al. / Sophia Dagnello, NRAO / AUI / NSF / Spitzer / NASA.

Astronomers Take Closer Look at Giant Molecular Cloud W49A

May 5, 2021 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using NSF’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) have captured new, high-resolution radio images of a massive star-forming region called...

Astronomers Detect Two New Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Interstellar Medium

Mar 22, 2021 by News Staff

Using data from the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope, astronomers have identified emission from two isomers of a small polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon...

An artist’s impression showing the increasing effect of ram-pressure stripping in removing gas from the spiral galaxy NGC 4921 and its satellite galaxies. Image credit: ICRAR / NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA.

Large Galaxies Strip Molecular Gas from Their Satellites

Feb 23, 2021 by News Staff

A research team led by International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) astronomers has studied the molecular-gas content of nearby massive galaxies...

An artist’s impression of glycine together with dark interstellar clouds in the lab. Image credit: Harold Linnartz.

Amino Acids Can Form Long Before Stars and Planets: Study

Nov 16, 2020 by News Staff

Glycine and other amino acids form in dense interstellar clouds well before they transform into new stars and planets, suggests a new study led by researchers...

This ALMA image shows young planet-forming dust rings around IRS 63. Image credit: D. Segura-Cox, Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics.

Ring-Like Structures Spotted around Protostar IRS 63

Oct 27, 2020 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimetre Array (ALMA) have observed the emission from dust grains in the protoplanetary disk around...

This Hubble image shows the free-floating evaporating gaseous globule J025157.5+600606. The color image is made up of observations from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) in the near-infrared and optical parts of the spectrum. Three filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / R. Sahai.

Hubble Space Telescope Spots Free-Floating EGG

Oct 13, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have snapped a remarkable image of J025157.5+600606, a free-floating evaporating gaseous globule...

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