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An artist’s impression of protoplanets forming around a young star. Image credit: NRAO / AUI / NSF / S. Dagnello.

ALMA Spots Three Giant Protoplanets around HD 163296

Jun 14, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have uncovered evidence that three infant planets are forming in the protoplanetary...

This 3D spectro-imaging data cube was produced using software called OsrsVol, short for OSIRIS-Volume Display; Ciurlo et al developed this custom volume rendering tool to separate G3, G4, and G5 from the background emission; once the 3D analysis was performed, the astronomers could clearly distinguish the G-objects, which allowed them to follow their movement and see how they behave around the supermassive black hole. Image credit: Ciurlo et al.

Strange Star-Like Objects Spotted near Milky Way’s Central Black Hole

Jun 13, 2018 by News Staff

Three new dusty stellar objects — so-called ‘G-type’ objects — have been spotted at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. This 3D spectro-imaging...

An artist’s concept of the K2-239 planetary system. Image credit: Gabriel Perez Diaz, SMM / IAC.

Astronomers Discover Five New Exoplanets Orbiting Cool Dwarf Stars

Jun 13, 2018 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using data from NASA’s Kepler K2 mission have discovered two new planetary systems, one of which contains two super-Earths and the other...

This Hubble WFPC2 image shows Alpha Centauri A (left) and Alpha Centauri B (right). Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

X-Rays Pose No Threat to Alpha Centauri AB Exoplanets, Chandra Data Show

Jun 12, 2018 by News Staff

New observations by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory indicate the two brightest stars in the triple-star system Alpha Centauri are not pummeling any...

Artist’s impression of diamond dust. Image credit: S. Dagnello.

Astronomers Find Rapidly Spinning Nanodiamonds in Dust Disks around Young Stars

Jun 12, 2018 by News Staff

A faint and mysterious stream of microwaves emanating from young star systems far out in the Milky Way Galaxy could be caused by nanodiamonds about 1.5-2.2 nm...

This Hubble image shows the massive galaxy cluster RXC J0232.2-4420. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / RELICS.

Hubble Sees Massive Galaxy Cluster: RXC J0232.2-4420

Jun 11, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

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

This celestial firestorm is the blazing wreckage of a collision between two spiral galaxies NGC 4038 and NGC 4039, which are located about 62 million light-years from Earth. The two galaxies, whose bright yellow cores appear to the lower left and upper right of center, began their fateful confrontation a few hundred million years ago. The pair is nicknamed the Antennae Galaxies because of two long streamers of stars, gas, and dust that extend from the crash site. Wide-field images reveal the elongated ‘antennae’ formed during the initial impact, but this Hubble image concentrates on the heart of the galactic collision. Image credit: NASA / ESA / B. Whitmore, STScI.

Violent Galaxy Collisions Better at Activating Black Holes than Peaceful Mergers, Say Astronomers

Jun 8, 2018 by News Staff

When two galaxies collide, their central supermassive black holes also smash together. But before they do, these galaxies often flicker on, absorbing huge...

An artist’s impression of an Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting an M-dwarf star. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

We May Miss Life-Hosting Exoplanets If We Only Look for Their Oxygen

Jun 8, 2018 by James Romero

There could be a flaw in the search for atmospheric oxygen as a signature of life around most of our nearby exoplanets. A team from the University of Washington...

Globular clusters could be up to 4 billion years younger than previously thought. This image shows a binary star system within a globular cluster. Image credit: Mark A. Garlick / University of Warwick.

Globular Star Clusters May Be Significantly Less Ancient than Previously Thought

Jun 7, 2018 by News Staff

Once thought to be formed soon after the Universe itself, new research from the Universities of Warwick and Auckland finds globular clusters may be only...

Two spiral galaxies NGC 5426 and NGC 5427 are locked in a swirling dance in this image from the VIMOS instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. Image credit: Juan Carlos Muñoz / ESO.

ESO’s Very Large Telescope Watches Galactic Dance

Jun 6, 2018 by News Staff

Two similarly-sized spiral galaxies — NGC 5426 and NGC 5427 — swing past each other in a cosmic dance choreographed by gravity. Two spiral...

The first artist’s illustration shows a key part of the process that created this new black hole, as the two neutron stars spin around each other while merging. The purple material depicts debris from the merger. Image credit: NASA / CXC / M.Weiss.

Recent Gravitational-Wave Event Likely Created Low-Mass Black Hole

Jun 5, 2018 by News Staff

A new study using X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory indicates that the neutron star merger that became the gravitational wave source,...

This Hubble image shows the dwarf galaxy IC 4870. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Observes Dwarf Galaxy IC 4870

Jun 5, 2018 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has delivered an unrivalled snapshot of the nearby dwarf galaxy IC 4870. This Hubble image shows the dwarf galaxy IC...

This artist’s impression shows the evolution of the Universe beginning with the Big Bang on the left followed by the appearance of the Cosmic Microwave Background. The formation of the first stars ends the cosmic dark ages, followed by the formation of galaxies. Image credit: M. Weiss / Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Does Small Fraction of Dark Matter Particles Carry Electric Mini-Charge?

Jun 4, 2018 by News Staff

A duo of astrophysicists is proposing a new model for the invisible material that makes up most of the Universe: it’s possible that a small fraction...

Hubble Space Telescope Sees Messy Result of Galactic Collision: NGC 3256

Jun 1, 2018 by News Staff

A gorgeous new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows NGC 3256, an impressive example of a peculiar galaxy that is actually the relict of...

This image from the 256-megapixel OmegaCAM camera on ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope shows the Tarantula Nebula and its rich surroundings in great detail. It reveals a cosmic landscape of star clusters, glowing gas clouds and the scattered remains of supernova explosions. Image credit: ESO.

ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope Captures Tarantula Nebula

May 30, 2018 by News Staff

ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope at Paranal Observatory in Chile has captured the sharpest image ever of the Tarantula Nebula and its rich surroundings. This...

In this Hubble image the light from a distant galaxy, nearly 9.5 billion light-years away, has been warped into a giant arc of light in the galaxy cluster SDSS J1156+1911. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Judy Schmidt, www.geckzilla.com.

Hubble Sees Giant Gravitational Arc

May 29, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have found a giant arc of light behind SDSS J1156+1911, a cluster of hundreds of galaxies located...

One of the six dark galaxy candidates detected by the team. Image credit: Marino et al, doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/aab6aa.

Astronomers Detect Six Dark Galaxies in Early Universe

May 25, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile have detected six dark galaxies,...

PSR B1957+20 is seen in the background through the cloud of gas enveloping its brown dwarf companion. Image credit: Mark A. Garlick / Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto.

Plasma Lenses Amplify Pulsar Emission in Rare Binary System

May 24, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

A group of astronomers at the University of Toronto in Canada has performed one of the highest resolution observations in the history of astronomy by observing...

Gas in the Orion A molecular cloud; each of the three colors (red, green and blue) represents a different velocity range. Image credit: National Science Foundation / S. Kong, J. Feddersen & H. Arce, CARMA-NRO Orion Survey Team.

Astronomers Create Detailed Map of Orion A Molecular Cloud

May 22, 2018 by News Staff

The new map, created by astronomers from Yale University and elsewhere, provides unprecedented detail of the structure of the Orion A molecular cloud,...