Astronomy News

Astronomers Find Iron and Titanium in Atmosphere of Ultrahot Jupiter

Artist’s impression of a sunset on the ultrahot Jupiter KELT-9b. Image credit: Denis Bajram.
Aug 16, 2018 by Sergio Prostak

Astronomers have detected atomic iron and titanium in the atmosphere of KELT-9b, a gas giant exoplanet orbiting a star in the constellation Cygnus, about 650 light-years from Earth. Artist’s impression of a sunset on the ultrahot Jupiter KELT-9b. Image credit: Denis Bajram. KELT-9b belongs to a family called ultrahot Jupiters, incredibly hot giant exoplanets that orbit very close to their parent stars. The planet is approximately 2.8 times more...

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Computer simulation of a region of the Universe wherein a low-density ‘void’ (dark blue region at top center) is surrounded by denser structures containing numerous galaxies (orange/white). Image credit: TNG Collaboration.

Early Universe’s Most Opaque Place Contained Relatively Little Matter: Study

Aug 15, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers have known that roughly 12 billion years ago, the gas in deep space was much more opaque than it is now in some regions, although the opacity...

An artist’s impression of a habitable exoplanet orbiting a red dwarf. Image credit: Sci-News.com / NASA.

Stellar Flares: Life Givers or Sterilizers of Worlds?

Aug 15, 2018 by James Romero

Have Carl Sagan and astrobiologists been too hard on stellar flares? A new study imagines an alternative scenario where they power photosynthesis around...

Neutron stars are the smallest, densest stars in the Universe. True to their name, neutron stars are composed almost entirely of neutrons. Duer et al suggest that some properties of neutron stars may be influenced not only by their multitude of densely packed neutrons, but also by a substantially smaller fraction of protons -- positively charged particles that make up just 5% of a neutron star. This is an illustration of a neutron star. Image credit: Casey Reed, Penn State University.

Protons May Have Outsize Influence on Properties of Neutron Stars

Aug 14, 2018 by News Staff

A study conducted by an international consortium called the CLAS Collaboration, made up of 182 members from 42 institutions in 9 countries, has confirmed...

An artist’s conception of exoplanets in a dense star cluster. Image credit: Michael Bachofner.

Milky Way’s Biggest Globular Cluster Unlikely to Host Habitable Exoplanets

Aug 14, 2018 by News Staff

Close encounters between stars in Omega Centauri, the only star cluster visible to the naked eye, leave little room for habitable planets, according to...

An artist’s concept of a Sun-mass star passing close to the early Solar System. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Sci-News.com.

Passing Star May Have Shaped Early Outer Solar System

Aug 13, 2018 by News Staff

A close flyby of a Sun-mass star several billion years ago could explain some unusual features observed in the outer Solar System. An artist’s concept...

This Hubble image shows the galaxy cluster RXC J0142.9+4438. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / RELICS.

Hubble Spots Massive Galaxy Cluster

Aug 13, 2018 by News Staff

Galaxy clusters are some of the most massive and largest structures that can be found in the Universe. A new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope...

This image shows low-mass galaxies NGC 4485 and NGC 4490. Image credit: Adam Block / Mount Lemmon SkyCenter / University of Arizona.

Dwarf-Galaxy Mergers May Seed Future Stars

Aug 10, 2018 by News Staff

In a study published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Columbia University astronomer Sarah Pearson and co-authors show how gas...

An artist’s impression of an ultrahot Jupiter. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Ultrahot Jupiters Have Starlike Atmospheres, Astronomers Say

Aug 10, 2018 by News Staff

Recent observations by NASA’s space telescopes of ultrahot Jupiter-like exoplanets have surprised astronomers. The spectra of these planets have suggested...

This deep image of the area of sky around the elliptical galaxy NGC 5018 offers a spectacular view of its tenuous streams of stars and gas. These delicate features are hallmarks of galactic interactions, and provide vital clues to the structure and dynamics of early-type galaxies. Image credit: Spavone et al / ESO.

Astronomers Observe NGC 5018 Galaxy Group

Aug 9, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers using ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope (VST) have examined a small group of five galaxies in the southern hemisphere. The results will be published...

This TESS image shows the comet C/2018 N1. Image credit: Massachusetts Institute of Technology / NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

TESS Spots Comet C/2018 N1

Aug 7, 2018 by News Staff

Before NASA’s newest planet-hunter TESS started science operations on July 25, the spacecraft sent back a series of images showing the motion of C/2018...

This Hubble/ACS image shows NGC 2108, a globular cluster located in the constellation Dorado, about 164,000 light-years away. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Observes Globular Cluster NGC 2108

Aug 6, 2018 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a striking photo of the colorful globular cluster NGC 2108. This Hubble/ACS image shows NGC 2108, a globular...

Artist’s conception of SIMP01365, an object with 12.7 times the mass of Jupiter, but a magnetic field 200 times more powerful than Jupiter’s. Image credit: Chuck Carter, Caltech / NRAO / AUI / NSF.

Free-Floating Exoplanet Has Extremely Strong Magnetic Field

Aug 6, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers using NSF’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array have detected a ‘rogue’ planetary-mass object with a surprisingly powerful magnetic field. Artist’s...

Researchers Identify Exoplanets with Optimal Chemical Conditions for Life’s Origin

Aug 2, 2018 by News Staff

Scientists from the University of Cambridge and the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, UK, have identified a group of exoplanets where the same chemical...

An artist’s impression of the collision of two stars, like the ones that formed CK Vulpeculae. The inset illustrates the inner structure of one red giant before the merger. A thin layer of 26Al (brown) surrounds a helium core. An extended convective envelope (not to scale), which forms the outermost layer of the star, can mix material from inside the star to the surface, but it never reaches deep enough to dredge 26Al up to the surface. Only a collision with another star can disperse 26Al. Image credit: NRAO / AUI / NSF / S. Dagnello.

Radioactive Molecule Found in Stellar Merger Remnant

Aug 2, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Northern Extended Millimeter Array (NOEMA) have made the first definitive...

Exoplanet Hunters Create Reference Catalog of Solar System Bodies’ Light-Fingerprints

Aug 1, 2018 by News Staff

A team of astronomers at Carl Sagan Institute, Cornell University, has produced a reference catalog of spectra and geometric albedos for 19 objects that...

Illustration of the early solar disk, with an inset image of a blue crystal of hibonite, one of the first minerals to form in the Solar System. Image credit: Field Museum / University of Chicago / NASA / ESA / E. Field, STScl.

Meteorite Researchers Find Strong Evidence Early Sun Was Highly Active

Jul 31, 2018 by News Staff

By examining microscopic ice-blue crystals of mineral hibonite trapped inside a carbonaceous chondrite meteorite, an international team of scientists was...

This Hubble image shows the spiral galaxy Messier 83. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA / W. Blair, STScI & JHU / Carnegie Institution of Washington / Las Campanas Observatory / NOAO.

Astronomers Find New Place to Look for Gravitational Waves: Outskirts of Spiral Galaxies

Jul 31, 2018 by News Staff

Conditions favorable for gravitational wave-emitting mergers of massive black holes exist in the outer gas disks of big spiral galaxies, according to a...

An artist’s illustration of NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

NASA’s Planet-Hunter TESS Starts Hunting

Jul 30, 2018 by News Staff

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has begun its search for planets around stars within 300 light-years of the Sun. An artist’s illustration...

Acting as a ‘natural telescope’ in space, the gravity of SDSS J1152+3313 magnifies, brightens, and distorts a distant starburst galaxy. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Judy Schmidt, www.geckzilla.com.

Hubble Uses Cosmic Lens to Capture Distant Star-Forming Galaxy

Jul 30, 2018 by News Staff

A new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope demonstrates the immense effects of gravity; more specifically, it shows the effects of gravitational...

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