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HISTORICAL FACTS: The milky way | History Defined

Astrophotography in September 2026: get your camera ready for the equinox auroras and a final glimpse of the Milky Way’s core

Everything you need to know about what’s worth photographing in the night skies over the coming month

Digital Camera World

In 1932, a Bell Labs engineer trying to solve mysterious static from transatlantic phone calls that repeated every 23 hours and 56 minutes accidentally discovered radio waves from the center of the Milky Way

In the early 1930s, Bell Labs engineer Karl Jansky embarked on an investigation into transatlantic radio interference. By constructing a large antenna to trace an enigmatic hiss, he uncovered a signal that deviated from known sources. This signal, which followed a sidereal day cycle, indicated a celestial origin. Jansky's serendipitous…

The Economic Times

Chance gaze at old Hubble Telescope image leads to discovery that could reveal dark matter's secrets

On a morning train commute, this former scientist found a stellar surprise in an old Hubble image.

Space

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Looking up: Hunting stars and nebulae from the peaks of the French Alps

French astronaut Sophie Adenot made history this month as the first French woman to perform a spacewalk. Back on Earth, space enthusiasts across France are finding their own ways to reach for the stars. In a five-part series this week, RFI meets some of them. First up is astrophotographer Aude…

Radio France Internationale

The earliest galaxy 'swallowed' by the cannibal Milky Way left a scar at its heart

The earliest example of the Milky Way cannibalising a smaller galaxy for its growth involved a cosmic meal that left a scar at the heart of our galaxy.

Space

Scientists just found the fastest known star in the Milky Way. It zooms around our black hole at 15,500 miles per second

Astronomers have found the fastest known star in the Milky Way, a faint object racing around Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the heart of our galaxy.

Space

Telescope spies the fastest star in the Milky Way zipping around a black hole

A telescope has spotted the fastest known star in the Milky Way

The Independent UK

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Astronomers spot the closest, fastest star ever seen orbiting our galaxy's monster black hole

A star is whipping around the Milky Way's central black hole incredibly fast, setting a record for the tightest orbit ever observed

LiveScience

Sagittarius existed in real dimensions but over the past approximately 6 billion years, Milky Way has been absorbing dwarf galaxy

Whether the Milky Way's early growth ‌was fueled ⁠by homegrown star formation or a galactic merger has been a matter of debate, according to researchers. The new study indicates that the merger infused the Milky Way early in its history with a large volume of stars and interstellar gas that…

The Economic Times

Our Milky Way devoured a galaxy 11.8 billion years ago. Another crash may happen in 4.5 billion years

The Milky Way swallowed a smaller dwarf galaxy about 11.8 billion years ago, marking the earliest known merger in its history. Scientists used Hubble and Gaia observations to trace stars linked to the ancient galaxy, named Low-energy-Kraken-Heracles. The Milky Way later absorbed other galaxies and may collide with Andromeda in…

The Economic Times

Galactic archaeologists find stars in the Milky Way came from another galaxy 12 billion years ago

Look up on a dark night and the Milky Way appears as a calm band of stars across the sky. But our galaxy has a violent past.

The Conversation

How an ancient collision with another galaxy transformed the Milky Way

The Milky Way has a secret history of galaxy mergers that we are only now starting to uncover.

Space

Water can survive surprisingly close to the Milky Way's supermassive black hole, James Webb Space Telescope finds

Water and cosmic dust can survive in the harsh environment near Sagittarius A*, new observations reveal.

Space

In 1967, US satellites searching for nuclear tests detected mysterious flashes from space. Decades later, scientists uncovered secrets of gamma-ray bursts, which can release more energy in 10 seconds than Sun will emit over its entire 10-billion-year lifetime

Gamma-ray bursts, first detected accidentally in 1967, have long puzzled astronomers. Recent observations of their afterglows are now challenging established theories. These powerful cosmic explosions release extraordinary amounts of energy in mere seconds. Ground-based observatories detect gamma rays indirectly through atmospheric interactions. These new findings suggest the physics behind these…

The Economic Times

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LiveScience

Total eclipse, shooting stars, and the Milky Way: Why Aug. 12 could be the greatest single day and night for skywatching for years

A solar eclipse, the peak of the Perseid meteor shower, Venus at dichotomy and the Milky Way at its annual best will create one of 2026's best days for skywatching.

Bangkok Post

Meet the astronomer digging for Milky Way ‘fossils’

GRONINGEN, Netherlands - Amina Helmi’s passion for the Milky Way is clear as soon as one steps into her small office at the University of Groningen, in the north of the Netherlands.

France 24

Meet the astronomer using ‘cosmic fossils’ to investigate the Milky Way's violent birth

Vast cosmic collisions over tens of billions of years have shaped our galaxy into the Milky Way that we see in the night sky today. Galactic archaeologist Amina Helma has dedicated her life to unearthing the "cosmic fossils" that help us decipher our galaxy's violent birth – and give us…

Space

Our Milky Way galaxy appears to have flipped 90 degrees long ago. But why?

A slowly rotating stellar halo was the clue to a major and unknown event in the Milky Way's history that saw the spiral disc flip over by more than 90 degrees.

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The Guardian - AU

Connected under the Milky Way: new exhibition shares Indigenous astronomical knowledge from Australia to South Africa

The Yamaji-Wajarri people studied the wide-open skies of their country for millennia before being host to one of the world’s largest radio telescopes

Space

The easiest way to learn the summer night sky starts with these 3 stars

How to use the Summer Triangle stars — Vega, Deneb and Altair — as a key to unlock your understanding of the night sky.

Space

Hubble telescope watches unique nova explosion fire cosmic 'bullets' through the Milky Way at 20 million mph

Using Hubble, astronomers have discovered that the only known "helium nova" in the Milky Way is riddling our galaxy with cosmic bullets travelling at 20 million mph.

The Independent UK

Our Milky Way galaxy has flipped on its side, astronomers say

Finding could solve long mystery about the nature of our cosmic neighbourhood

The Guardian - UK

Milky Way flipped in collision with dwarf galaxy 10bn years ago, astronomers say

Durham University researchers find cataclysmic direct hit with Gaia Sausage sent Milky Way into its current position

Space

A laser disappears into the Milky Way's heart | Space photo of the day for July 16, 2026

That is quite a view.

Space

This cosmic 'lighthouse' is blazing a magnetic trail through the Milky Way

For the first time, astronomers have directly mapped the magnetic field surrounding one of the Milky Way's most unusual pulsars, confirming a decades-old prediction about how particles stream away from the rapidly spinning stellar corpse.

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