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Posts by
Andy Briggs
What is a globular cluster?
A globular cluster is a spherical collections of stars, orbiting in the halo of spiral galaxies. Our Milky Way galaxy has over 150 globular clusters.
August 14, 2022
Space
Milky Way’s black hole seen at last!
Astronomers have succeeded in capturing the 1st direct image of our Milky Way's black hole, a monster with the mass of 4 million suns!
May 13, 2022
Supermassive black hole a feature of most galaxies
A large galaxy typically has a supermassive black hole at its heart. These black holes contains millions - to billions - of times our sun's mass.
May 12, 2022
What’s a constellation? What’s an asterism?
Constellations and asterisms are patterns of stars. Some asterisms consist of stars from different constellations, and some are part of one constellation.
May 6, 2022
What are black holes?
Black holes are regions of space with gravitational fields so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape. Their sizes vary from stellar to supermassive.
February 23, 2022
What is a magnetar?
A magnetar is a strange and rare neutron star, generating almost incomprehensible amounts of energy that can be detected across the universe. How?
June 13, 2021
What is a quasar?
A quasar is an extremely bright, distant object visible to radio telescopes. The source is an active galactic nucleus fueled by a supermassive black hole.
February 28, 2021
What is a supernova?
A supernova is a star's colossal explosion at the end of its life, potentially outshining its entire galaxy. Read about the causes and types of supernovae here.
November 12, 2020
What is the Big Bang?
In the view of modern cosmologists, the Big Bang is the event that marked the birth of our universe. What was it - when was it - and what are modern theories?
June 11, 2020
A mystery solved? Fast Radio Burst detected within Milky Way
Fast Radio Bursts are very mysterious bursts of radio waves - perhaps just a thousandth of a second long - coming from all over the sky. This new discovery of one in our own galaxy is a stunner!
May 4, 2020
