Like many photographers around the world, I went on a last-ditch aurora chase on the weekend of 11 May. The huge CMEs left us with hopes of a second night of Southern Lights at low latitudes
Sadly, it was not to be. But I was determined to not come away from the adventure empty handed, and got this nice shot of the Milky Way.
Aurora Australis, from Shelly Beach at Port MacDonnell, South Australia. Cheeky five hour drive to catch this and so worth it - absolutely breathtaking to see those beams towering over me. Experience of a lifetime.
Happy #BlackHoleWeek to those who celebrate! Here's a pic I took a few years ago back when I worked at ESO's Paranal Observatory in #Chile. One of our 8.2 m telescopes was pointing at the centre of the #MilkyWay, home to Sagittarius A*, a #BlackHole 4 million times more massive than the #Sun.
Astronomers devoted almost a century to unmask this beast:
Astronomers have found a magnetic star for the first time beyond the Milky Way after an incredibly brief, ultrabright explosion in the so-called Cigar Galaxy. Will this be the first of many other extragalactic magnetar discoveries? Live Science has more. https://flip.it/iHsynr #Science#Space#Stars#MilkyWay#Astronomy
1/ Most massive stellar #BlackHole in our galaxy found! With 33 times the mass of the Sun, this is the most massive black hole formed after the collapse of a star that we've found so far in the #MilkyWay.
ESA's Gaia mission found it via the wobble it induces on a star orbiting it, and data from ground-based telescopes helped confirm its mass and elucidate how it formed.
Another neat paper combining someone's love of astronomy and archeology ❤️ Keep sharing the passionate fires that drive you
> Nut is the goddess of the sky, who is often depicted as a star-studded woman arched over her brother, the Earth god Geb. She protects the Earth from being flooded by the encroaching waters of the void, and plays a key role in the solar cycle, swallowing the sun as it sets at dusk and giving birth to it once more as it rises at dawn.
Scientists reveal never-before-seen map of the #MilkyWay's central engine (image)
With funding from #NASA, researchers from #Villanova University have obtained a never-before-seen view of the central engine at the heart of our #galaxy.
"The center of the Milky Way and most of the space between stars is filled with a lot of dust, and this is important for our galaxy's life cycle." https://www.space.com/milky-way-heart-central-engine-stunning-map#space
📷 Hidden in this deep sky image (left) is a truly miniscule group of stars (right), bound together by their own gravity (and maybe even dark matter!), in orbit around the Milky Way Credit: CFHT/S. Gwyn (right) / S. Smith (left).
ALMA, as part of the Event Horizon Telescope, is unveiling a new image of our Milky Way's supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*, in which strong magnetic fields can be seen…
The most exciting part is that this hints to a jet that would be hidden from our vantage point in our galaxy… but imagine that! We might be like M87, just at a smaller scale!