June's Stunning Space Pictures
(Inside Science) -- This month, we feature images that expand our understanding of space. Through these images, astronomers are trying to solve decadeslong mysteries, capture the first glimpses of a black hole that was only theoretical until now, and test the boundaries of what we think we know about astrophysics.
The inset of this image shows what is known as an Einstein ring, resulting from the distortion of light through a galaxy called ESO 325-G004. This galaxy, located about 450 million light-years from Earth, is one of the closest so-called gravitational lensing galaxies ever observed. By comparing its mass to the curvature of space around it, astronomers found that gravity bends light in just the way general relativity predicts. (ESO, ESA/Hubble, NASA)
The term "supermassive" black hole often gets flung around these days, but astronomers theorize smaller "seeds" of the gigantic variety also exist. With this picture, researchers at the XMM-Newton observatory believe they have found the best candidate for such a seed -- the pinkish dot that might be an intermediate-mass black hole. It showed its candidacy through an enormous flare of radiation outside a galaxy 740 million light-years away, seen here as a fluffy yellow light. (NASA/ESA/Hubble/STScI)
Astronomers have discovered that distant, young structures called starburst galaxies house a much higher proportion of stars than expected, a finding that challenges our present understanding of star formation. This artist's impression shows a starburst galaxy enshrouded in stellar dust in the lower left, while in the upper right the dusty veil is swept aside, revealing numerous bright stars. (ESO/M. Kornmesser)
Astronomers this month inspected the source of a mysterious cosmic microwave "glow" appearing around infant star systems in the Milky Way. What they found were dusty rings composed of microscopic diamonds, illustrated in the inset above, circling a young star. This explains the mystery of anomalous microwave emissions, which were first observed 20 years ago. (S. Dagnello/NRAO/AUI/NSF)
In another look toward young planets in the universe, this illustration shows planetary triplets around a newborn star. The system was discovered through a new method that looked at the unusual flow patterns within a protoplanetary disk around a star about 330 light-years from Earth. The finding was made possible by high-resolution images from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. (S. Dagnello/NRAO/AUI/NSF)
