New discoveries ALMA studies ‘pregnant’ clouds in the Milky Way

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Chaotic magnetic fields pose no obstacle to star birth

Have you ever seen how a magnet creates patterns in a sprinkling of iron filings? Every material that conducts electricity (like iron) responds to magnetic forces. In the universe, magnetic fields are important, too. They strongly influence the motions of gas particles. Little wonder then that magnetic fields also...

Why does this monster galaxy keep on forming new stars

Sometimes, scientists are like little children. They always ask ‘why?’. That’s because they want to understand everything they see. A lot of ‘why questions’ have already been answered, like ‘why is the sky blue?’ and ‘why is the sun hot?’. But many remain. So when astronomers discovered a distant...

Massive baby star also has rotating jet

Here’s the story of the birth of a massive star. It all starts with a huge cloud of gas and dust. The cloud contracts under its own gravity. It gets smaller and denser. It also starts to rotate faster and faster. Due to the rotation, the cloud begins to...

Hold your breath: oxygen found in the very early Universe

Every breath you take contains a lot of oxygen. Oxygen gas is an important ingredient of our atmosphere. Without it, there would be no human life on Earth. Astronomers know that all oxygen atoms in the Universe were produced in stars. When the Universe was born in the Big...

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