Tag

Galactic Bulge

All articles tagged with #galactic bulge

space3 days ago•15 min saved

Roman Space Telescope could census exoplanets across the galaxy in one mission

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, slated for launch on August 30, 2026, could detect tens to hundreds of thousands of exoplanet signals (roughly 60k–200k transiting planets, with ~100k often cited) via microlensing toward the Galactic bulge and high-cadence transit monitoring, creating a galaxy-wide planetary census rather than a simple list of confirmed worlds. Many detections will be planet candidates needing follow-up; the mission aims to map how planet populations vary with distance from the galactic center and environment, complementing Kepler and other missions. Roman features a 2.4-meter mirror, a wide field of view, a 300-megapixel infrared camera, and will operate from the Sun–Earth L2 point, including a coronagraph demonstration for direct-light studies.

via Space Daily|

#exoplanets #galactic-bulge #microlensing

space11 days ago•6 min saved

Euclid Maps Milky Way’s Crowded Core in a 60-Million-Star Mosaic

The European Space Agency's Euclid telescope released the largest visible-light image of the Milky Way's center, revealing more than 60 million stars in the galactic bulge along with nebulae and star clusters. The nine-pointing mosaic, captured in 2025, demonstrates Euclid's sharp, wide-field imaging that rivals Hubble over a much larger area.

via Boing Boing|

#astronomy #esa #euclid

space13 days ago•5 min saved

Euclid Captures the Milky Way's Crowded Core in Unprecedented Detail

The European Space Agency’s Euclid space telescope produced the largest, most detailed visible-light image of the Milky Way’s center—the galactic bulge—showing more than 60 million stars in a mosaic of nine pointings. While no new microlensing events were identified during the 26-hour campaign, the data will enable precise mass measurements of known exoplanets and serve as a reference archive for future missions like NASA’s Roman telescope, supporting deeper exoplanet studies, brown dwarfs, binary stars, and galactic dust research.

via WIRED|

#euclid-telescope #exoplanets #galactic-bulge

space16 days ago•97 min saved

Milky Way's Core Captured: Euclid Unveils 60 Million Stars and 50 Exoplanet Clues

ESA’s Euclid telescope spent 26 hours in 2025 image‑capturing the Milky Way’s galactic bulge, yielding the largest high‑resolution visible-light image of the region with about 60 million stars and 51 known exoplanet systems. The dataset will help microlensing searches for planets—potentially revealing ice giants at wide orbits—and will serve as a time reference for past and future missions like the Roman Space Telescope, while advancing studies of stellar motions and galactic dust.

via Space|

#euclid #exoplanets #galactic-bulge

space16 days ago•3 min saved

Euclid reveals 60 million stars in unprecedented Milky Way center view

ESA’s Euclid telescope produced a 26‑hour mosaic of the Milky Way’s bulge, unveiling more than 60 million stars in the central region and enabling precise stellar motions to improve exoplanet detection via microlensing; the work complements NASA’s upcoming Roman telescope, which is expected to find about 1,500 microlensing planets and could push the galactic exoplanet count beyond 100,000.

via The Guardian|

#euclid-telescope #exoplanets #galactic-bulge

science2 months ago•8 min saved

Hubble Preps Roman for the Milky Way's Bulge Microlensing Hunt

Hubble's precursor imaging of the Milky Way's galactic bulge will calibrate and guide NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s upcoming Galactic Bulge Time-Domain Survey, enabling precise mass measurements and a census of microlensing events, rogue planets, and compact objects, with six 72‑day seasons and high-cadence observations ahead of Roman's 2026 launch.

via NASA Science (.gov)|

#exoplanets #galactic-bulge #hubble-space-telescope

astronomy3 years ago•3 min saved

Unraveling the Mystery of the Haunting 'Ghost Stars' in the Milky Way's Center

Scientists have discovered a mysterious alignment of planetary nebulas in the galactic bulge at the center of the Milky Way. These clouds of gas, expelled by dying stars, are arranged in a parallel line almost perpendicular to the plane of the galaxy. The alignment is only present in planetary nebulas with a close stellar companion, suggesting that the rapid orbital motion of the companion star creates the alignment. This finding provides insight into the dynamics and evolution of the Milky Way's bulge region and the formation of close binary systems.

via Livescience.com|

#astronomy #galactic-bulge #hubble-space-telescope

astronomy3 years ago•3 min saved

Unveiling the Mystery of 'Ghost Stars' in the Milky Way's Core

Scientists have discovered that the alignment of planetary nebulas in the galactic bulge at the center of the Milky Way is only present in nebulas with a close stellar companion. This suggests that the alignment is created by the rapid orbital motion of the companion star, which may even end up orbiting inside the remains of the main star. The findings deepen our understanding of the dynamics and evolution of the Milky Way's bulge region and provide insights into the formation of close binary systems.

via Space.com|

#astronomy #galactic-bulge #hubble-space-telescope

astronomy3 years ago•2 min saved

Unveiling the Mystery of 'Ghost Stars' in the Milky Way's Core

Scientists have discovered the reason behind the mysterious alignment of planetary nebulas in the galactic bulge at the center of the Milky Way. Using images from the Hubble Space Telescope, researchers found that the alignment is only present in planetary nebulas with a close stellar companion. The alignment is absent in planetary nebulas without a companion star, suggesting that the rapid orbital motion of the companion star creates the alignment. This finding provides insight into the complex process of star formation in the Milky Way's bulge region.

via Yahoo! Voices|

#astronomy #galactic-bulge #hubble-space-telescope