Astronomers see galaxies clearer than ever before

A supermassive black hole at the centre of a galaxy, seen faintly in the centre

Astronomers have managed to capture some of the most detailed pictures of galaxies in deep space ever.

They're really excited about it because the images are a lot more high definition than usual and they show the inner workings of space in never-seen-before detail.

It's hoped the images could play a big role in human understanding of black holes in star and planet formation and the researchers say that the images will show how galaxies evolve.

How was it done?

The radio signals have been captured by 70,000 one-metre-high antennas across nine European countries

The team in charge of the study managed to produce the pictures by linking together more than than 70,000 small antennae spread across nine European counties.

It wasn't an easy process bringing that many antennas together digitally - even though most are located in the Netherlands - and took almost six years to make a reality.

The images have revealed that galaxies are much more than a collection of stars.

They are planet-making factories, powered by black holes, according to Dr Neal Jackson, from the University of Manchester.

"Even seasoned astronomers go 'wow!' when they see these images," he told the BBC.

"It's become very clear that, in order to understand galaxy evolution, we need to understand the black hole right at the very centre, because it appears to have a fairly fundamental influence on how galaxies evolve and that is what these images allow us to do," said Dr Jackson.

"These high-resolution images allow us to zoom in to see what's really going on when supermassive black holes launch these jets of material."

The team plan to scan millions of galaxies over the next few years and think that there could be some real surprises in store along the way.