Technologies

Dazzling Milky Way panorama reveals nearly 1,000 mysterious galactic threads

An astrophysicist behind the beauty compares the image with modern art.

In the early 1980s, scientists imaged the center of our galaxy 25,000 light-years from Earth. To their surprise, they stumbled upon a cluster of «strands» 150 light-years long hanging out in an oddly organized pattern. For years, they scrutinized the stringy forces, trying to understand what they are and why they’re there.

No, these galactic noodles (probably) aren’t the work of aliens. But they later revealed themselves to be some sort of magnetic wiring, catching space-borne cosmic ray electrons and forcing the particles to gyrate around their fields at nearly the speed of light. If anything, the enigma escalated.

Fast-forward to today. The same researcher who led the first imaging endeavor decided to create an updated version. In a paper published online Wednesday and accepted to The Astrophysical Journal Letters, he presents his results: an absolutely spectacular panorama of radio emission data stemming from the Milky Way’s center.

Cosmic phenomena such as star bursts, stellar nurseries and supernova graveyards stained the picture with brilliant streaks, but most strikingly, the image unveiled 10 times more perplexing strands than before. «It’s like modern art,» Farhad Yusef-Zadeh, an astrophysicist at Northwestern University and lead author of the paper, said in a statement. «These images are so beautiful and rich, and the mystery of it all makes it even more interesting.»

He calls the newer picture a «watershed in furthering our understanding of these structures,» because the initial, relatively sparser collection of filaments was too small to draw any real conclusions about their origin and purpose.

Photographing a massive galaxy

It took three years of surveying the sky and 200 hours using the Meerkat telescope at the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory for Yusef-Zadeh’s team to generate precise observations of 20 separate sections.

Then, the researchers pieced the cutouts together and isolated the magnetic filaments by removing the background. That led to the mesmerizing mosaic photograph that resembles a Jackson Pollock.

«I’ve spent a lot of time looking at this image in the process of working on it, and I never get tired of it,» Ian Heywood, an astrophysicist at Oxford University and study co-author, said in a statement. «When I show this image to people who might be new to radio astronomy, or otherwise unfamiliar with it, I always try to emphasize that radio imaging hasn’t always been this way, and what a leap forward Meerkat really is in terms of its capabilities.»

Leads on the filaments

Now blessed with an ocean of inexplicable Milky Way filaments to analyze, Yusef-Zadeh and team are carrying out a sort of population analysis to understand what the cosmic spaghetti strands have in common, and where they differ.

«If you were from another planet, for example, and you encountered one very tall person on Earth, you might assume all people are tall. But if you do statistics across a population of people, you can find the average height,» he said. «That’s exactly what we’re doing. We can find the strength of magnetic fields, their lengths, their orientations and the spectrum of radiation.»

So far, the team concludes the strands’ magnetic fields are amplified as you travel across them and exhibit variation in their radio emissions. Due to the latter, they say the pieces could’ve originated from a black hole that once lurked in the center of our galaxy or a giant radio-emitting bubble, like one discovered in 2019.

Still, huge question marks remain, such as why are these filaments so structured? And why are there so many? Perhaps the biggest confusion lies within the fact that particles on the strands’ field are moving at nearly the speed of light. Any faster, and they’d fit a time-travel requirement.

«How do you accelerate electrons at close to the speed of light?» Yusef-Zadeh wonders. «One idea is there are some sources at the end of these filaments that are accelerating these particles.»

Going forward, the team says they’ll continue searching for answers.

«We’re certainly one step closer to a fuller understanding,» Yusef-Zadeh said. «But science is a series of progress on different levels. We’re hoping to get to the bottom of it, but more observations and theoretical analyses are needed. A full understanding of complex objects takes time.»

Technologies

Verum Messenger: Don’t follow the future. Define it

In a world where information defines influence, Verum Messenger is building a new architecture of digital communication — intelligent, secure, and ready for tomorrow. Here, technology serves not limitations, but possibilities.

Not being part of change. Leading it. Verum Messenger — the future that speaks first.

Technologies

Verum Finance: Stop Spending Months Opening a Bank Account

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Technologies

Google races to put Gemini at the center of Android before Apple’s AI reboot

Google is using its latest Android rollout to position Gemini as the AI layer across phones, Chrome, laptops and cars.

Google is using its latest Android rollout to make Gemini less of a chatbot and more of an operating layer across the phone, browser, car and laptop, just weeks before Apple is expected to show its own Gemini-powered Apple Intelligence reboot at WWDC.
Ahead of its Google I/O developer conference next week, the company previewed a number of Android updates, including AI-powered app automation, a smarter version of Chrome on Android, new tools for creators, a redesigned Android Auto experience, and a sweeping set of new security features.
Alphabet is counting on Gemini to help Google compete directly with OpenAI and Anthropic in the market for artificial intelligence models and services, while also serving as the AI backbone across its expansive portfolio of products, including Android. Meanwhile, Gemini is powering part of Apple’s new AI strategy, giving Google a role in the iPhone maker’s reset even as it races to prove its own version of personal AI on the phone is further along.
Sameer Samat, who oversees Google’s Android ecosystem, told CNBC that Google is rebuilding parts of Android around Gemini Intelligence to help users complete everyday tasks more easily.
“We’re transitioning from an operating system to an intelligence system,” he said.
As part of Tuesday’s announcements. Google said Gemini Intelligence will be able to move across apps, understand what’s on the screen and complete tasks that would normally require a user to jump between multiple services. That means Android is moving beyond the traditional assistant model, where users ask a question and get an answer, and acting more like an agent.
For instance, Google says Gemini can pull relevant information from Gmail, build shopping carts and book reservations. Samat gave the example of asking Gemini to look at the guest list for a barbecue, build a menu, add ingredients to an Instacart list and return for approval before checkout.
A big concern surrounding agentic AI involves software taking action on a user’s behalf without permissions. Samat said Gemini will come back to the user before completing a transaction, adding, “the human is always in the loop.”
Four months after announcing its Gemini deal with Google, Apple is under pressure to show a more capable version of Apple Intelligence, which has been a relative laggard on the market. Apple has long framed privacy, hardware integration and control of the user experience as its advantages.
Google’s Android push is designed to show it can bring AI deeper into the device experience while still giving users control over what Gemini can see, where it can act and when it needs confirmation.
The app automation features will roll out in waves, starting with the latest Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel phones this summer, before expanding across more Android devices, including watches, cars, glasses and laptops later this year.
The company is also redesigning Android Auto around Gemini, turning the car into another major surface for its assistant. Android Auto is in more than 250 million cars, and Google says the new release includes its biggest maps update in a decade and Gemini-powered help with tasks like ordering dinner while driving.
Alphabet’s AI strategy has been embraced by Wall Street, which has pushed the company’s stock price up more than 140% in the past year, compared to Apple’s roughly 40% gain. Investors now want to see how Gemini can become more central to the products people use every day.
WATCH: Alphabet briefly tops Nvidia after report of $200 billion Anthropic cloud deal