All articles tagged with #alma
Astronomers using ALMA and Chandra detected a cone-shaped cavity around Sagittarius A*, signaling a hot wind from the Milky Way’s central black hole that has cleared nearby gas; the outflow is estimated to have been active for at least 20,000 years, offering new insight into how Sgr A* influences its environment even in a relatively quiet state and into black hole feedback in galaxies.
Astronomers using ALMA radio maps and NASA’s Chandra X-ray data detected a 3-light-year cone-shaped cavity around Sagittarius A*, the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole, indicating a previously unseen wind. The finding helps explain why our galaxy’s center appeared windless and provides a new observable for understanding how black holes influence their host galaxies.
Astronomers used five years of ALMA observations, along with supporting data, to identify a wind emanating from the Milky Way’s central black hole, Sagittarius A*, including a southern lobe and evidence for a northern lobe. The wind consists of small gas wisps radiatively driven by the SMBH, demonstrating galactic-center feedback even from a relatively quiescent black hole.
Astronomers using ALMA and Chandra observations have captured the first clear evidence of a wind blowing from the Milky Way’s central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*, carving a cone-shaped cavity in surrounding cold gas and indicating the black hole has been actively shaping its environment for at least 20,000 years while remaining relatively quiet compared with active galaxies.
After a 50-year search, astronomers using ALMA and NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have detected evidence of a wind flowing from Sagittarius A*, the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole. The wind appears to have carved a three-light-year cone in surrounding molecular gas, with X-ray data lining up to confirm the wind. Though relatively weak compared with winds from actively feeding black holes, it may have been active for about 20,000 years, providing a window into black hole outflows in a quiet state.
Astronomers released the largest, most detailed image of the Milky Way's center, created with ALMA's 66 antennas to map cold molecular gas and dust at millimeter wavelengths. The mosaic reveals intricate gas filaments and molecular fingerprints, offering new insight into how stars form in the extreme environment around the galactic center, including a mysterious millimeter ultra-broad line object (MUBLO) detected only by ALMA. The project will be complemented by JWST observations to place our Galaxy in broader cosmic context and to inform theories of solar-system formation.
Astronomers analyzing the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS found an exceptionally high amount of heavy water (deuterium-rich water), suggesting it formed in a much colder, lower-radiation environment than our solar system. This marks the first successful water analysis of an interstellar object and points to diverse planetary-forming conditions across the galaxy, with future studies likely to reveal more such visitors as observational capabilities improve.
ALMA observations of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS show a deuterium-rich water signature, indicating it formed in a colder, outer region of a protoplanetary disk around another star, making it a time capsule from the galaxy’s early days.
Astronomers confirmed a rare, merging quasar pair at z=5.7 (about 1 billion years after the Big Bang) using ALMA, revealing two massive galaxies connected by a tidal bridge; both host galaxies harbor more than 10 billion solar masses and rapid star formation, signaling intense black hole growth during early mergers, which are expected to form a true binary in ~2.1 billion years and may impact the gravitational wave background.
Astronomers using ALMA detected an exceptionally high abundance of deuterated water (HDO) in interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS—more than 30 times what’s typical in solar-system comets and over 40 times Earth's ocean water—indicating the comet formed in environments colder than about 30 Kelvin, far colder than the region that formed our solar system. The finding suggests interstellar comets carry preserved birth-region chemistry and underscores that planetary formation varies with local temperature and radiation across the galaxy.
Astronomers using the ALMA Observatory found that interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS contains unusually high deuterium in its water, implying it formed in a very cold, loner star-forming region long before the Sun. The object could be the oldest known interstellar visitor (up to about 11 billion years old); its nucleus is estimated to range from a quarter-mile to 3.5 miles (440 meters to 5.6 kilometers) across, and it is speeding away from the Sun at roughly 137,000 mph. The findings, published in Nature Astronomy, add context to other interstellar visitors like Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov.
ALMA measurements of deuterated water in interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS show it formed in a far colder, chemically distinct region of the Milky Way than the solar system, with deuterated-water content about 30 times higher than solar-system comets and roughly 40 times Earth's oceans.
Astronomers using the ALMA array produced the largest mosaic of the Milky Way’s center to date, mapping the Central Molecular Zone across roughly 650 light-years and revealing a web of cold gas filaments and dense clouds that feed star formation. The ACES collaboration, involving about 160 scientists from over 70 institutions, aims to test how star formation and chemistry operate in this extreme galactic environment. The dataset will sharpen our understanding of the galaxy’s evolution and will be followed by upgrades to ALMA and future telescopes for even deeper studies.
ALMA observations reveal the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is unusually methanol-rich, with methanol originating from both the nucleus and coma. This chemical fingerprint suggests formation under conditions different from those of Solar System comets and provides a glimpse into the chemistry of distant star systems, with more interstellar visitors anticipated as powerful observatories come online.
ALMA observations of the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS reveal an unusually high methanol abundance in its coma and core—among the highest seen in comets—paired with a high methanol-to-hydrogen cyanide ratio, indicating distinctive formation conditions in that distant system. The methanol appears to come from both the core and the coma, and future observations with advanced telescopes could help explain the object’s origin as it exits the solar system.