Black Holes are theoretical objects. A black hole is an object which has such high gravitational pull that not even light can escape. Hence it is black. Which makes it pretty hard to observe directly....more
In the 1960's a startling discovery was made by accident. A pair of scientists at Bell Laboratories detected some annoying background noise using a special low noise antenna. The strange thing about the...more
Cosmology is the study of the overall structure of the universe. Just what is the Universe? It is everything that exists. However, from Earth we cannot observe everything in the Universe. Some things are...more
The Universe today is very different from the Universe of the past and of the future. We can learn much about the past and the future from what we can currently observe. The Universe today is filled...more
Elliptical galaxies come in a range of shapes and sizes. They can be circular or egg-shaped. They can be very large and bright (giants!) or rather small and dim (dwarfs!). We can learn about how these...more
If you think that this globular cluster looks like a very round elliptical galaxy, you would be right! Elliptical galaxies and globular clusters have a lot in common. There is no gas or dust in a globular...more
In the 1920's the famous American astronomer Edwin Hubble made a startling discovery that forever changed our view of the Universe. He found that, no matter which direction he looked into space, distant...more
Any galaxy which cannot be classified as either spiral or elliptical is called an irregular galaxy. In some sense every irregular galaxy is unique in it's appearance. It doesn't have to look like the others....more