All Stories by Ken Croswell
- Space
The Milky Way makes little galaxies bloom, then snuffs them out
When dwarf galaxies cross the Milky Way’s frontier, our galaxy compresses their gas, sparking star birth, but then robs them of their star-making gas.
- Astronomy
The Milky Way’s most massive star cluster may have eaten a smaller cluster
Observations of newfound stars suggest how the gathering of stars at the galaxy’s core grew so big.
- Astronomy
The star cluster closest to Earth is in its death throes
Gaia spacecraft observations of stars’ motion within and fleeing the cluster suggest the 680-million-year-old Hyades has only 30 million years left.
- Space
How tiny ‘dead’ galaxies get their groove back and make stars again
Computer simulations explain how puny galaxies can sustain star formation: Gas falls into them and billions of years later begins to create new stars.
- Astronomy
High-speed gas collisions prevent star birth in galaxies’ bars
The spiral galaxy NGC 1300 makes few if any stars in its bright bar. Simulations suggest gas clouds colliding at high speed stunt star formation.
- Space
Astronomers have found the edge of the Milky Way at last
Computer simulations and observations of nearby galaxies let astrophysicists put a firm number on the Milky Way's size.
- Astronomy
Molecular oxygen has been spotted beyond the Milky Way for the first time
Astronomers have detected molecular oxygen in another galaxy for the first time. The discovery is only the third sighting beyond our solar system.
