News Archive for December 2015

Artist’s impression of a transitional disc around a young star. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / M. Kornmesser.

ALMA Spots Infant Exoplanets in Discs around Four Young Stars

Dec 16, 2015 by News Staff

The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has found strong evidence that massive planets have recently formed around four very young stars,...

The blue-banded bee Amegilla murrayensis. Image credit: Callin Switzer.

Australian Blue-Banded Bees Filmed Headbanging Flowers 350 Times a Second

Dec 16, 2015 by Natali Anderson

A team of entomologists has captured Australian blue-banded bees’ unique approach to pollination – headbanging flowers up to 350 times a second. The...

Blazars are the most common sources detected by NASA’s Fermi telescope. As matter falls toward a supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s center, some of it is accelerated outward at nearly the speed of light along jets pointed in opposite directions. When one of the jets happens to be aimed in the direction of Earth, as illustrated here, the galaxy appears especially bright and is classified as a blazar. Image credit: M. Weiss / CfA.

Astronomers Detect High-Energy Gamma Rays from Blazar 7.6 Billion Light-Years Away

Dec 16, 2015 by News Staff

Using NASA’s Fermi Space Telescope, the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) in Arizona, and other telescopes, astronomers...

The Teresensis’ bromeliad treefrog (Dendropsophus bromeliaceus), male. Image credit: Ferreira R.B. et al.

New Treefrog Species Discovered in Brazil: Dendropsophus bromeliaceus

Dec 15, 2015 by Sergio Prostak

A team of scientists from the United States, Argentina, and Brazil has described a new species of small treefrog from the rocky outcrops of the Brazilian...

Like a cosmic bull’s-eye, the two Saturnian moons line up almost perfectly for Cassini’s narrow-angle camera. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Tethys and Enceladus Line up Perfectly for NASA’s Cassini Robotic Orbiter

Dec 15, 2015 by Natali Anderson

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has snapped an amazing image of two of Saturn’s moons: Tethys and Enceladus. The Saturn moons Tethys (far) and Enceladus...

The Australian little penguin (Eudyptula novaehollandia), Bruny Island, Tasmania, Australia. Image credit: J.J. Harrison / CC BY-SA 3.0.

New Zealand, Australian Little Penguins are Distinct Species, Scientists Say

Dec 15, 2015 by Sergio Prostak

Australian little penguins are a separate species from those living in New Zealand, a team of ornithologists led by University of Otago scientist Dr Stefanie...

This image shows an artist’s impression of the ten hot Jupiter exoplanets studied by the astronomers. The images are to scale with each other. HAT-P-12b, the smallest of them, is approximately the size of Jupiter, while WASP-17b, the largest planet in the sample, is almost twice the size. The planets are also depicted with a variety of different cloud properties. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Astronomers Solve Missing Water Mystery in Comparative Study of Hot Jupiters

Dec 15, 2015 by Natali Anderson

A survey of so-called hot-Jupiters – giant exoplanets that orbit very close to their host stars – conducted with NASA’s Spitzer and the NASA/ESA...

Ritchey Crater on Mars has impact melt deposits containing clay minerals. The clay minerals found within these deposits are very likely to have formed after the impact event. Image credit: NASA / JPL / University of Arizona / Brown University.

New Research Finds Evidence for More Recent Clay Formation on Mars

Dec 14, 2015 by News Staff

Clay deposits in impact craters on Mars have often been assumed to have been formed in the earliest Martian epoch – the Noachian period – over...

University of Copenhagen researcher Christoph Korte and his colleagues have shed light on the causes behind an ‘Ice Age’ that took place on our planet 174 million years ago. Image credit: Gerhard Boeggemann / CC BY-SA 2.5.

Scientists Shed Light on Causes behind Jurassic ‘Ice Age’

Dec 14, 2015 by News Staff

A group of researchers has found evidence of an abrupt, mid-latitude cooling of seawater during the Jurassic period, around 174 million years ago. University...

SEM images of Eokinorhynchus rarus. Abbreviations: A1-A20 - 1st to 20th trunk annulus; an - anus; cs - caudal spine; hsc - head scalid; ls - large sclerite; 1ls-5ls - 1st to 5th pair of large sclerites; mg - midgut; nsc - neck scalid; spl - small plate; ss - small spine; vls - ventral large sclerite. Image credit: Huaqiao Zhang et al.

535-Million-Year-Old Fossils of Microscopic Worms Unearthed in China

Dec 14, 2015 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of paleontologists has discovered several early Cambrian (535 million years old) fossils of kinorhynch worms, including the new species Eokinorhynchus...

This image from Hubble’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 shows the heavily obscured globular cluster Terzan 1. Image credit: ESA / NASA / Judy Schmidt, www.geckzilla.com.

Terzan 1: Hubble Snaps Breathtaking Picture of Globular Cluster

Dec 14, 2015 by Natali Anderson

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a stunning image of the globular cluster Terzan 1. This image from Hubble’s Wide Field and Planetary...

The L-type dwarf W1906+40 is a red object in the center of this image. Image credit: SDSS / Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg / SIMBAD.

Astronomers Spot Giant Storm System on L-Type Dwarf

Dec 11, 2015 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s flagship space telescopes, Kepler and Spitzer, have discovered a raging, giant storm on a cool Jupiter-size star called W1906+40. The...

Kunbarrasaurus ieversi: New Armored Dinosaur Species Discovered

Dec 11, 2015 by Natali Anderson

A new species of armored dinosaur has been identified from bones discovered more than two decades ago in Australia. An artist impression of Kunbarrasaurus...

Mountainous shoreline of Sputnik Planum: in this enhanced color image, great blocks of Pluto’s water-ice crust appear jammed together in al-Idrisi mountains. Some mountain sides appear coated in dark material, while other sides are bright. Several sheer faces appear to show crustal layering, perhaps related to the layers seen in some of Pluto’s crater walls. The mountains end abruptly at the shoreline of Sputnik Planum, where exotic ices of the plain form a nearly level surface, broken only by the fine trace work of striking, cellular boundaries and the textured surface of the plain’s ices. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

NASA Reveals Enhanced Color Mosaic of Pluto’s Surface

Dec 11, 2015 by News Staff

The newly-released enhanced color mosaic combines sharp pictures of Pluto from New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) taken 15 minutes...

A courting male Cuban burrowing cockroach (Byrsotria fumigata) performing a full wing raise. Image credit: Sophie Mowles / Natalie Jepson.

Study: Female Cockroaches Select Only Fittest Males to Mate With

Dec 10, 2015 by News Staff

A new study led by Dr Sophie Mowles of Anglia Ruskin University shows how energetic courtship displays of male Cuban burrowing cockroaches attract female...

Life restoration of Hualianceratops wucaiwanensis. Image credit: Portia Sloan Rollings.

Hualianceratops wucaiwanensis: New Species of Ceratopsian Dinosaur Discovered in China

Dec 10, 2015 by Sergio Prostak

An international team of paleontologists has discovered a new species of hornless ceratopsian dinosaur, called Hualianceratops wucaiwanensis, in China. Life...

Occator crater (center) appears to be among the youngest features on Ceres. Dawn mission scientists estimate its age to be about 78 million years old. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

Two Studies Offer Fascinating Insights about Ceres, Its Bright Spots

Dec 10, 2015 by Enrico de Lazaro

In two new studies, published today in the journal Nature, the dwarf planet Ceres reveals some of its most eye-catching secrets. In the first study, researchers...

This composite image shows an infrared view of Titan. In this image blue represents wavelengths centered at 1.3 microns, green represents 2.0 microns, and red represents 5.0 microns. A view at visible wavelengths would show only Titan’s hazy atmosphere; the near-infrared wavelengths in this image allow Cassini’s vision to penetrate the haze and reveal the moon’s surface. The view looks toward terrain that is mostly on the Saturn-facing hemisphere of Titan. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

NASA Scientists Release Stunning New Image of Saturn’s Largest Moon Titan

Dec 10, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s Cassini robotic orbiter captured this view of Titan during a moderately close flyby on November 13, 2015. This composite image shows an infrared...

This image of Venus was taken by the UVI instrument on JAXA’s Akatsuki orbiter from a distance of about 44,700 miles (72,000 km) on December 7, 2015. Image credit: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

Japan’s Akatsuki Spacecraft Reaches Venus Orbit, Sends Back New Images

Dec 9, 2015 by Natali Anderson

JAXA’s Akatsuki spacecraft successfully entered Venus’ orbit on Monday, December 7, where it now will prepare to study the planet’s atmosphere. This...

This image of Saturn’s moon Epimetheus was taken by NASA’s Cassini robotic probe on December 6. The view looks toward the Saturn facing side of the tiny moon. North on Epimetheus is up. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Cassini Takes New Images of Saturn’s Small Moons: Atlas, Epimetheus and Prometheus

Dec 9, 2015 by Natali Anderson

New images from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft offer close-ups of three of Saturn’s tiny moons – Atlas, Epimetheus and Prometheus. Cassini captured...

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