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NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope was placed in safe mode on January 30, 2020 at 5:30 p.m. EST (2:30 p.m. PST). Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

NASA Retires Spitzer Space Telescope

Feb 3, 2020 by News Staff

After more than 16 years studying the Universe in infrared light, NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope has been placed in safe mode. NASA’s Spitzer Space...

This Hubble image reveals a detailed view of the central part of the grand design spiral galaxy NGC 5364. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the visible and infrared regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). Four filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / L. Ho.

Hubble Focuses on Grand Design Spiral Galaxy NGC 5364

Feb 3, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a vivid image of the central part of a grand design spiral galaxy called NGC 5364. This Hubble image reveals...

An artist’s depiction of a rapidly spinning neutron star and a white dwarf dragging the fabric of spacetime around its orbit. Image credit: Mark Myers, OzGrav ARC Centre of Excellence.

Exotic Binary System Confirms Relativistic Frame-Dragging

Jan 31, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers has found exciting new evidence for Lense-Thirring precession — an effect of relativistic frame-dragging —...

This image of the Sun’s surface was captured by NSF’s Inouye Solar Telescope. The image, taken at 789 nm, shows features as small as 30 km (18 miles). Image credit: NSO / NSF / AURA.

Inouye Solar Telescope Captures Most Detailed Images Ever Seen of Sun’s Surface

Jan 30, 2020 by News Staff

The high-resolution images from the National Science Foundation’s Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, on the summit of Haleakala, Hawai’i, show a close-up...

An artist’s impression of the KSN:BS-C11a system. Image credit: NASA / L. Hustak, STScI / R. Ridden-Harper, STScI & Australian National University.

Kepler Observes Earliest Stages of Dwarf Nova’s Super-Outburst

Jan 29, 2020 by News Staff

Using the archival data from NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope, astronomers have identified a previously unknown dwarf nova that underwent a ‘supermaxima’...

This image of the Tarantula Nebula combines data from multiple Spitzer observations, most recently in February and September 2019. The image shows the nebula in two wavelengths of infrared light, each represented by a different color. The red color at the heart of the nebula shows the presence of particularly hot gas emitting infrared light at a wavelength of 4.5 micrometers. The blue regions are dust composed of molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Regions emitting both wavelengths appear white. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Spitzer Sees Tarantula Nebula in Infrared Light

Jan 28, 2020 by News Staff

Using data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, which is set to be retired on January 30, 2020, astronomers have generated a new view of the Tarantula...

Artist’s impression of a sunset on the ultrahot Jupiter KELT-9b. Image credit: Denis Bajram.

Ultrahot Jupiter KELT-9b is So Hot that Even Atmospheric Hydrogen Molecules are ‘Torn to Shreds’

Jan 28, 2020 by News Staff

Using data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, astronomers have found evidence that the heat in the atmosphere of KELT-9b, the hottest known transiting...

This Hubble image shows NGC 7541, a barred spiral galaxy located 103.7 million light-years away in the constellation of Pisces. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / A. Riess et al.

Hubble Space Telescope Spies NGC 7541

Jan 27, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has produced an outstanding image of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 7541. This Hubble image shows NGC 7541, a barred...

Astrophysicists One Step Closer to Unlocking Mystery of Superluminous Supernovae

Jan 24, 2020 by News Staff

SN 2006gy, a superluminous supernova discovered in 2006, gained its exceptional brightness when a normal Type Ia explosion smashed into a dense shell of...

This image shows the ancient dwarf star J0815+4729 (center). Image credit: Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg / SIMBAD / SDSS.

Astronomers Find Huge Amount of Oxygen in Ancient Dwarf Star

Jan 24, 2020 by News Staff

Using high-resolution spectroscopic observations from the High-Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES) on the 10-m Keck I telescope at the W. M. Keck Observatory,...

This composite image of the Crab Nebula was assembled by combining data from five telescopes spanning nearly the entire breadth of the electromagnetic spectrum: the VLA (radio) in red; Spitzer (infrared) in yellow; Hubble (visible) in green; XMM-Newton (ultraviolet) in blue; and Chandra (X-ray) in purple. Image credit: NASA / ESA / NRAO / AUI / NSF / G. Dubner, University of Buenos Aires.

Astronomers Create Stunning 3D Visualization of Crab Nebula

Jan 22, 2020 by News Staff

In 1054 CE, Chinese sky watchers witnessed the sudden appearance of a ‘new star’ in the heavens, which they recorded as six times brighter than Venus,...

This illustration shows the surroundings of a black hole feeding on ambient gas as mapped using ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray observatory. Image credit: ESA.

Astronomers Map Surroundings of Supermassive Black Hole

Jan 22, 2020 by News Staff

As material spirals towards a black hole, it is heated up and emits X-rays that, in turn, echo and reverberate as they interact with nearby gas. These...

An artist’s conception of a dwarf galaxy, its shape distorted, most likely by a past interaction with another galaxy, and a massive black hole in its outskirts (pullout). The black hole is drawing in material that forms a rotating disk and generates jets of material propelled outward. Image credit: Sophia Dagnello, NRAO / AUI / NSF.

Wandering Massive Black Holes Detected in Nearby Dwarf Galaxies

Jan 21, 2020 by News Staff

Astronomers using NSF’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory have observed 111 nearby dwarf galaxies within...

This image from the FORS instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope shows the emission nebula Gum 26. Image credit: ESO.

VLT Sees Newborn Stars in Emission Nebula Gum 26

Jan 20, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has released a stunning image snapped by the FOcal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrograph (FORS) instrument on...

This Hubble image shows NGC 1022, a face-on barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation of Cetus, approximately 62 million light-years away. The image is made up of observations from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) in the infrared and optical parts of the spectrum. Three filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / A. Seth.

Hubble Views Face-On Barred Spiral Galaxy

Jan 20, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has imaged a beautiful spiral galaxy called NGC 1022. This Hubble image shows NGC 1022, a face-on barred spiral galaxy...

An artist’s rendering shows G-objects, with the reddish centers, orbiting the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*. The black hole is represented as a dark sphere inside a white ring (above the middle of the rendering). Image credit: Jack Ciurlo.

Astronomers Spot Four New G-Objects near Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole

Jan 17, 2020 by News Staff

At the center of our Milky Way Galaxy lurks Sagittarius A*, a supermassive black hole that is four million times the mass of the Sun. Recently, two unusual...

No one knows what dark matter is, but this invisible form of matter makes up roughly a quarter of the Universe. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Astrophysicists are Taking Dark Matter’s Temperature

Jan 16, 2020 by News Staff

Astrophysicists have very little idea of what dark matter is and they have yet to detect a dark matter particle. But they do know that the gravity of clumps...

An artist’s impression of the Proxima Centauri system. Image credit: Lorenzo Santinelli.

Proxima c: Possible Second Planet Found around Sun’s Nearest Neighbor

Jan 16, 2020 by Sergio Prostak

An international team of astronomers has detected a candidate super-Earth planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, the nearest star to the Sun. An artist’s...

This infographic shows the key results from a study that has revealed the interstellar thread of phosphorus. The background of the infographic shows a part of the night sky in the constellation of Auriga, where the star-forming region AFGL 5142 is located. The ALMA image of this object is on the top left of the infographic, and one of the locations where the team found phosphorus-bearing molecules is indicated by a circle. The most common phosphorus-bearing molecule in AFGL 5142 is phosphorus monoxide, represented in orange and red in the diagram on the bottom left. Another molecule found was phosphorus nitride, represented in orange and blue. The astronomers also found phosphorus monoxide on 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, shown on the bottom right. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / Rivilla et al / L. Calçada / ESA / Rosetta / NAVCAM / Mario Weigand, www.SkyTrip.de.

Astronomers Trace Journey of Phosphorus from Stellar Nurseries to Solar System Comets

Jan 15, 2020 by News Staff

To understand how molecules containing phosphorus — one of life’s building blocks — are formed in star-forming regions, a team of astronomers...