Institute of Astronomy

News and Press Releases

Stars Born in Winds from Supermassive Black Holes

Published on 24/03/2017 

Observations using ESO’s Very Large Telescope have revealed stars forming within powerful outflows of material blasted out from supermassive black holes at the cores of galaxies. These are the first confirmed observations of stars forming in this kind of extreme environment. The discovery has many consequences for understanding galaxy properties and evolution.

Rapid changes point to origin of ultra-fast black hole winds

Published on 28/02/2017 

Astronomers have made the most detailed observation yet of an ultra-fast wind emanating from a Black Hole at a quarter of the speed of light. Using the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton and NASA’s NuSTAR telescopes, the scientists observed the phenomenon in an active galaxy known as IRAS 13224-3809.

Newly discovered planets could have water on their surfaces

Published on 22/02/2017 

Representation of the planetary system from above. The star is at the centre and the planets are in orbit around it. The relative sizes of the planets are correct, but on a different scale to their distance to the star. More figures available below.

Mapping the family tree of stars

Published on 20/02/2017 

Evolutionary tree of near-by stars constructed using the genetic code MEGA and 17 different chemical elements as the stellar DNA. Credit: Amanda Smith

Black-Hole-Powered Jets Forge Fuel for Star Formation

Published on 14/02/2017 

Composite image showing how powerful radio jets from the supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy in the Phoenix Cluster inflated huge "bubbles" in the hot, ionized gas surrounding the galaxy (the cavities inside the blue region imaged by NASA's Chandra X-ray observatory). Hugging the outside of these bubbles, ALMA discovered an unexpected trove of cold gas, the fuel for star formation (red). The background image is from the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: ALMA (ECO/NAOJ/NRAO) H. Russell, et al.; NASA/ESA Hubble; NASA/CSC/MIT/M. McDonald et al.; B.