GALAXY DISCOVERIES

LIGHTS ON CERES

Recently, NASA astronomers noticed two bright lights on Ceres.

reflecting about 40% of the light hitting them, they are

thought to be ice areas or salt patches. some

scientists also suggest the lights might  have a

geologic or volcanic origin.

QUASAR QUARTET

In May 2015, astronomers discovered the first quadruple

quasar ever. Consisting of four rare active black holes

situated in an unusually close proximity to one another,

the quartet is surrounded by a giant nebula of cool gas.  

According to astronomers, the discovery is either a

one-in-ten-million coincidence, or it will make us rethink

current models of quasar evolution.

GIANT GAS CLOUD

A few years ago, astronomers were surprised by an

unexpected discovery of a mysterious large space blob.

Now known as Himiko, the blob has been identified

as a giant gas cloud. With a length of about 55,000 light

years and a mass equivalent to that of about 40 billion Sun,

Himiko is one of the largest and most distant objects

ever found in space.

ASTEROID WITH RINGS

In 2014, for the first time ever, astronomers discovered a ring system

surrounding an asteroid. Found around an asteroid named Chariklo,

the rings are a complete surprise to planetary scientists, who are

not exactly sure how such rings could have formed. One of their

theories suggests they might have formed when another smaller

object slammed into Chariklo´s surface, kicking up a huge amount

of debris that settled into rings held in place by gravity.

RADIO GALAXY J1420-0545

Radio galaxies are types of active, short-lived galaxies that are

very luminous at radio wavelengths. The largest of the radio

galaxies ever discovered is named J1420-0545 and it stretches

across a staggering 15 million light years of space.

GIGANTIC ALCOHOL CLOUD

While studying an area called W3(OH) -a region in our galaxy

where stars are being formed by the gravitational collapse of

gas and dust- astronomers based at Jodrell Bank Observatory

discovered a giant bridge of methyl alcohol. This bridge spans

about 288 billion miles and wraps around a stellar nursery.

FLARE ON MIRA

Super-sharp observations with the telescope ALMA recently

revealed what seems to be a large flare on the surface of Mira,

a red giant star estimated to be 200–400 light years away

in the constellation Cetus.

COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND

Defined as thermal radiation left over from the time of recombination

 in Big Bang cosmology, the CMB was accidentally discovered in

1964 by American radio astronomers Arno Penzias and Robert

Wilson who were working on a radiometer for satellite communication

experiments. The unexpected discovery even earned the

astronomers a Nobel Prize.