The Blue Monster: Ancient Stars of the Immense Andromeda Galaxy

  The immense Andromeda galaxy, also known as Messier 31 or simply M31, is captured in full in this new image from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. The mosaic covers an area equivalent to more than 100 full moons, or five degrees across the sky. The image above highlights the Andromeda galaxy’s older stellar population in blue. It was taken by the shortest-wavelength camera on WISE, which detects infrared light of 3.4 microns

"Einstein’s Telescope": Zooming In On the Dark Side of the Universe

“Such stunning cosmic coincidences reveal so much about nature.” ~ Leonidas Moustakas, Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Hubble Space Telescope has revealed a never-before-seen optical alignment in space: a pair of glowing rings, one nestled inside the other like a bull's-eye pattern. The double-ring pattern is caused by the complex bending of light from two distant galaxies strung directly behind a foreground massive galaxy, like three beads on a string.

New Hubble Survey Finds Milky Way Unique

A team of European astronomers led by François Hammer of the Observatoire de Paris has scored a first, completing a census of galaxy types from 116 local galaxies and 148 distant galaxies at two different points in the Universe’s history — in effect, creating two Hubble sequences — that help explain how galaxies form and evolve. “Six billion years ago, there were many more peculiar galaxies than now – a very surprising result,” says Rodney Delgado-Serrano, lead author of the related paper recently published in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Is a Dark, Parallel Universe Pulling the Milky Way Towards It at 14-Million MPH?

Astronomers have known for years that something unknown apears to be “pulling” our Milky Way and tens of thousands of other galaxies toward itself at a breakneck 22 million kilometers (14 million miles) per hour. But they couldn’t pinpoint exactly what, or where it is. One of the most fascinating discoveries of our new century may be imminent if the Large Hadron Collider outside Geneva produces nano-blackholes when it goes live again.

The Dark Attractor: What’s Pulling the Milky Way Towards It at 14-Million MPH?

Astronomers have known for years that something unknown apears to be pulling our Milky Way and tens of thousands of other galaxies toward itself at a breakneck 22 million kilometers (14 million miles) per hour. But they couldn’t pinpoint exactly what, or where it is. A huge volume of space that includes the Milky Way and super-clusters of galaxies is flowing towards a mysterious, gigantic unseen mass named mass astronomers have dubbed “The Great Attractor,” some 250 million light years from our Solar System.

Image of the Day: The Great Andromeda Galaxy & Its Dwarf Satellite

Our Milky Way Galaxy is part of a gathering of about 25 galaxies known as the Local Group. Members include the Great Andromeda Galaxy (M31), the Large Magellanic Cloud, the Small Magellanic Cloud, Dwingeloo 1, several small irregular galaxies, and many dwarf elliptical and dwarf spheroidal galaxies.

Einstein’s Telescope: Searching for Dark Matter and the Future of the Universe

“Such stunning cosmic coincidences reveal so much about nature.” ~ Leonidas Moustakas, Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Hubble Space Telescope has revealed a never-before-seen optical alignment in space: a pair of glowing rings, one nestled inside the other like a bull's-eye pattern. The double-ring pattern is caused by the complex bending of light from two distant galaxies strung directly behind a foreground massive galaxy, like three beads on a string

SciFi Hit "District 9" & the Aliens of Andromeda: Was Star-Trek an Influence? (VIDEO)

Maybe the world’s astronomy community should give “District 9″ producer Peter Jackson a call. He might know something they don’t.