Milky Way Archives

Using the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), researchers detected organic molecules with more than six atoms frozen in ice around a young star called ST6 forming in the neighboring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud. The full galaxy is shown in the far-infrared image in the top right inset. The main image is the zoom-in on the star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud hosting the protostar ST6. It is a combination of mid-infrared data from Spitzer and visible (H-alpha) data from the 0.9-m Curtis Schmidt Telescope. The Webb’s MIRI image at a wavelength of 19 microns in the main inset shows the protostar ST6. Credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/JPL-Caltech/M. Sewiło et al. (2025)

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Interstellar, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release

Building Blocks Of Life Located In Ice Around A Forming Star In A Neighboring Galaxy

by Keith CowingOctober 21, 2025October 21, 2025

In a discovery that could reshape our understanding of how the chemical ingredients for life spread throughout the cosmos, astronomers detected organic molecules with more than six atoms frozen in […]

Current and forthcoming constraints on radio line broadcasts in M31 (left) and three example Virgo cluster ellipticals (right), assuming that all broadcasts in each galaxy have the same EIRP ℓ. The G17 observations of M31 exclude the red shaded region, while example future observations with FAST and GBT are in blue and green, respectively. Solid shading applies to individualist constraints when δM = 0, and hatched shading is for the noise confusion limit at high δM (vertical for M49, diagonal for M31 and M87, horizontal for M59). -- astro-ph.GA

Astronomy & Telescopes, Intelligence & Language, Interstellar, SETI & Technosignatures, Status Report

Artificial Broadcasts as Galactic Populations: II. Comparing Individualist and Collective Bounds on Broadcast Populations in Single Galaxies

by Keith CowingOctober 8, 2025October 8, 2025

The search for extraterrestrial intelligence includes efforts to constrain populations of artificial broadcasts in other galaxies.

iss073e0516005 (Aug. 23, 2025) -- NASA larger image

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, Space Stations

The Milky Way Looms Above The Atmospheric Glow Of a Habitable Planet

by Keith CowingSeptember 6, 2025September 6, 2025

The Milky Way appears above Earth’s bright atmospheric glow in this photograph from the International Space Station.

Time-averaged chemical evolution of the studied species across all second stage models, as defined in Tab. 2. Line styles and shading follow those in Fig. 1. Only gas-phase abundances above the detectable threshold (X > 10−14) are considered. Changes in abundance, including both enhancement and depletion, generally follow the timescales seen in the average temperature profiles (see Fig. 1). In models of protostellar objects, the species that most frequently dominates over the others is HCN, whereas in shocks, CH3OH is the most dominant during the shock phase, while SiO takes over in the post-shock phase. -- astro-ph.GA

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report

Chemical Templates Of The Central Molecular Zone. Shock And Protostellar Object Signatures Under Galactic Center Conditions

by Keith CowingAugust 15, 2025August 15, 2025

(Abridged) The Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) of the Milky Way exhibits extreme conditions, including high gas densities, elevated temperatures, enhanced cosmic-ray ionization rates, and large-scale dynamics. Large-scale molecular surveys reveal […]

Distance vs. Stellar Mass for over 15,000 known galaxies out to 50 Mpc (Ohlson et al. 2024). Galaxies are colorcoded by their Hubble “T” Type, with early type galaxies T < 0 and late-type galaxies T > 0. The three stellar luminosity depth limits – RGB, sub-Red Clump, and sub-oMSTO – are shown as lines, corresponding to the distances where they are achievable for massive galaxies, and color-coded according to Fig. 1. The distances for these 3 depths achievable with HST and JWST are shown as dashed lines, while those achievable with HWO are shown as solid lines. The increase in galaxy diversity accessible from JWST→HWO is striking. The color bimodality of galaxies (e.g., Baldry et al. 2004) is visible within HWO’s reach, as is the Virgo Cluster which is notable as a vertical line of enhanced density. -- astro-ph.GA

Astronomy & Telescopes, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Stellar Cartography

Resolving Individual Stars in Nearby Large Galaxies with the Habitable Worlds Observatory

by Keith CowingJuly 5, 2025July 5, 2025

The varied and dynamic evolutionary histories of galaxies give rise to the stunning diversity in their properties that we observe in the present-day universe.

Top: Extinction map of the local ISM viewed top-down taken from Dharmawardena et al. (2024). The Sun (yellow circle) is at X, Y = 0, 0 and the Galactic centre is at X, Y = 8.2, 0 kpc. The twelve targets (cf. Table 1) are represented by colored stars. The two stars analyzed in this paper are shown in red and the other ten are shown in blue. The small gray star near the center of this figure indicates 10 Lac (AV = 0.21 mag), which was used as a reference star. The contours represent extinction in steps of 0.2 mag. Bottom: Dust map of the Milky Way galactic plane derived from Gaia photometry (see Andrae et al. (2023) for more details) with the twelve targets following the same color scheme as above. Note that some of the targets overlap in this projection. -- astro-ph.GA

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Status Report

Investigating Silicate, Carbon, And Water In The Diffuse Interstellar Medium: The First Shots From WISCI

by Keith CowingJune 26, 2025June 26, 2025

The dusty interstellar medium (ISM) of the Milky Way is distributed in a complex, cloudy structure.

The Milky Way beyond Earth's horizon iss072e574660 (Jan. 29, 2025) larger image

Astronauts and Explorers, Astronomy & Telescopes, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, Space Stations

Looking Outward From High Above Our Home World

by Keith CowingJune 17, 2025June 17, 2025

The Milky Way appears beyond Earth’s horizon in this celestial photograph captured by NASA astronaut Don Pettit using a camera with low light and long duration settings pointed out a […]

Comparison between the database EHS masses with recomputed values adopting the database stellar radii and surface gravities (see text for details). The grey dotted line is the (1:1)-relation. If the database were fully consistent, all points would lie on this diagonal line. The most massive EHS are not shown for clarity reasons. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Interstellar, Press Release, Stellar Cartography

The Gaia Spectroscopic Catalogue Of Exoplanets And Host Stars

by Keith CowingJune 4, 2025June 4, 2025

Complete, accurate, and precise catalogues of exoplanet host star (EHS) properties are essential to deriving high-quality exoplanet parameters. This paper aims at homogeneously parameterising EHS and their exoplanets, using Gaia […]

ALMA-images of the Milky Way's Central Molecular Zone. The research team suspects that protoplanetary discs are forming in its clouds. Credit Fengwei XU (PKU); ALMA Partnership; Laura Pérez (NRAO)

Astrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release

A Multitude Of Protoplanetary Discs Detected In The Galactic Center

by Keith CowingMay 16, 2025May 16, 2025

For decades, astronomers have discovered hundreds of protoplanetary disks – structures believed to represent the early stages of our own solar system.

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Press Release

Three Dimensional Map Of Our Galaxy’s Interstellar Dust

by Keith CowingMarch 16, 2025March 16, 2025

When we observe distant celestial objects, there is a possible catch: Is that star I am observing really as reddish as it appears? Or does the star merely look reddish, […]

Milky Way

Building Blocks Of Life Located In Ice Around A Forming Star In A Neighboring Galaxy

Artificial Broadcasts as Galactic Populations: II. Comparing Individualist and Collective Bounds on Broadcast Populations in Single Galaxies

The Milky Way Looms Above The Atmospheric Glow Of a Habitable Planet

Chemical Templates Of The Central Molecular Zone. Shock And Protostellar Object Signatures Under Galactic Center Conditions

Resolving Individual Stars in Nearby Large Galaxies with the Habitable Worlds Observatory

Investigating Silicate, Carbon, And Water In The Diffuse Interstellar Medium: The First Shots From WISCI

Looking Outward From High Above Our Home World

The Gaia Spectroscopic Catalogue Of Exoplanets And Host Stars

A Multitude Of Protoplanetary Discs Detected In The Galactic Center

Three Dimensional Map Of Our Galaxy’s Interstellar Dust

NASA Spaceline Current Awareness List #1,206 2 July 2026 (Space Life Science Research Results)

Older Than The Sun: Astronomers Find New Clues To The Origin Of Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

Carl Sagan Month: Call For Participation

The Habitable Worlds Observatory Technology Development Plan

Searching For The Elusive CH2+ With The James Webb Space Telescope. Another Carbocation To Constrain Astrochemical Networks