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A star known as S0-2 made its closest approach to Sagittarius A*, the a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, in 2018. Image credit: Nicolle Fuller / National Science Foundation.

Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity Aces Relativistic Redshift Test

Jul 26, 2019 by News Staff

In a test of Einstein’s theory of general relativity near the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy, an international group of...

An artist’s impression of a pair of orbiting white dwarfs, ZTF J153932.16+502738.8. Image credit: Caltech / IPAC.

Astronomers Discover Record-Breaking White Dwarf Binary System

Jul 25, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using the KPED (Kitt Peak Electron Multiplying CCD demonstrator) instrument at NSF’s Kitt Peak National Observatory have discovered ZTF J153932.16+502738.8,...

An artist’s rendering of a gas giant in a binary stellar system. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / T. Pyle.

TESS Finds Still-Forming Gas Giant in Binary Star System

Jul 25, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) have discovered an exoplanet planet larger than Neptune but smaller than Saturn...

Shaded gray contours outline the extent of the Local Void, while blue dots show major mass constituents (large galaxies, galaxy groups, and clusters). The curved blue lines show the derived motions of these massive objects, after removing the overall expansion of the Universe. The most important galaxy congregations are given special symbols, like the red ball identifying the Virgo Cluster. The dominant pattern of motions revealed by the orbits is a flow away from the Local Void. Image credit: University of Hawaii.

Astronomers Create 3D Map of Local Void

Jul 23, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers has mapped the size and shape of the Local Void, a large underdense region of the Universe, on the outskirts of which...

Hot Jupiters Have Powerful Magnetic Fields

Jul 23, 2019 by News Staff

Hot Jupiters — massive gaseous exoplanets orbiting close to their host stars — have surprisingly powerful magnetic fields, many times stronger...

This Hubble image shows the spiral galaxy NGC 3169. The color image is made up of observations from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) in the near-infrared, and optical parts of the spectrum. two 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 Snaps Beautiful Image of NGC 3169

Jul 22, 2019 by Natali Anderson

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured an amazing new photo of the spiral galaxy NGC 3169. This Hubble image shows the spiral galaxy NGC 3169....

This image from Data Release 1 of the Dark Energy Survey shows 2MASX J04180598-6336523, the host galaxy of the Type Ia supernova ASASSN-18tb; the position of the supernova is marked by the white ticks. Image credit: Kollmeier et al, doi: 10.1093/mnras/stz953.

TESS Observes Unusual Type Ia Supernova: ASASSN-18tb

Jul 19, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers have used NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) to see what was happening around the supernova ASASSN-18tb in the first moments...

An artist’s impression of the gas giant Kepler 1625b with its large moon, Kepler 1625b-i; the pair has a similar mass and radius ratio to the Earth-Moon system but scaled up by a factor of 11. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Large Moons around Extrasolar Gas Giants Could Become ‘Ploonets’

Jul 18, 2019 by News Staff

Ploonets — large regular moons ejected from orbits around close-in gas giant exoplanets — could explain many baffling astronomical observations,...

An artist’s impression of LTT 1445Ab in the triple-star system LTT 1445. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Newly-Discovered Rocky Exoplanet Has Three Red Suns

Jul 17, 2019 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) have discovered a terrestrial planet orbiting a star in the triple-star system...

An artist’s impression of the circumplanetary disk around PDS 70c. Image credit: NRAO / AUI / NSF / S. Dagnello.

ALMA Spots Moon-Forming Disk around Young Gas Giant PDS 70c

Jul 16, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have spotted a circumplanetary disk around a still-forming gaseous exoplanet...

This Hubble image shows the multi-armed spiral galaxy NGC 2985. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the visible and near-infrared regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). It is based on data obtained through two filters: F658W and F814W. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / L. Ho.

Hubble Sees Multi-Armed Spiral Galaxy

Jul 15, 2019 by Natali Anderson

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a striking new photo of the spiral galaxy NGC 2985. This Hubble image shows the multi-armed spiral galaxy...

An artist’s impression of the peculiar thin disk of material circling a supermassive black hole at the heart of NGC 3147. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESA / Hubble.

Thin Accretion Disk around NGC 3147’s Central Black Hole Surprises Astronomers

Jul 12, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have found an unexpected thin disk of material furiously whirling around a supermassive black hole...

Artist’s illustration of two merging neutron stars. Image credit: NSF / LIGO / Sonoma State University / A. Simonnet.

Astronomers Develop New Method for Measuring Hubble Constant

Jul 11, 2019 by News Staff

The Hubble constant measures the current expansion rate of our Universe and plays a fundamental role in cosmology: it can be used to determine the Universe’s...

This image of 2019 LF6 was captured by ZTF on June 10, 2019. Image credit: ZTF / Caltech Optical Observatories.

Astronomers Find Asteroid with Record-Short Year

Jul 10, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), a state-of-the-art camera at the Palomar Observatory in southern California, have spotted a very...

This VLT image shows the planetary nebula Abell 24. Image credit: ESO.

VLT Snaps Stunning Planetary Nebula Image: Abell 24

Jul 9, 2019 by News Staff

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has released a beautiful photo taken by the FORS (FOcal Reducer and Spectrograph) instrument on the Very Large...

This image snapped by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reveals a detailed view of NGC 1156. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the visible region of the spectrum with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. Two 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 / R. Jansen.

Hubble Views Lonely Dwarf Galaxy: NGC 1156

Jul 8, 2019 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has produced a beautiful image of the dwarf irregular galaxy NGC 1156, one of the best targets to study the isolated...

Dai et al used Chandra to measure the spin of five quasars. Gravitational lensing of the light from each of these black holes by an intervening galaxy has created multiple images of each quasar, as shown by these Chandra images of four of the targets. Image credit: NASA / CXC / University of Oklahoma / Dai et al.

Chandra Uses Gravitational Lens to Capture Spinning Black Holes

Jul 5, 2019 by News Staff

By combining the capability of NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory with the power of a natural phenomenon called gravitational lensing, a team of astronomers...

An artist’s impression of CSIRO’s ASKAP radio telescope detecting a fast radio burst. Image credit: Swinburne University of Technology / OzGrav ARC Centre of Excellence.

Second Non-Repeating Fast Radio Burst Traced Back to Its Home Galaxy

Jul 4, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Deep Synoptic Array-10 at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory have discovered a new non-repeating fast radio burst (FRB), called FRB...

This artist’s illustration shows a giant cloud of hydrogen streaming off the warm Neptune GJ 3470b. The host star’s intense radiation is heating the hydrogen in the planet’s upper atmosphere to a point where it escapes into space. GJ 3470b is losing hydrogen at a rate 100 times faster than a previously observed warm Neptune whose atmosphere is also evaporating away. Image credit: NASA / ESA / D. Player, STScI.

Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes Probe Atmosphere of Sub-Neptune

Jul 3, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers are curious about the two recently-discovered classes of planets not found in the Solar System: the so-called super-Earths and sub-Neptunes,...