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This Pluto mosaic was made from New Horizons LORRI images taken on July 14, 2015, from a distance of 49,700 miles (80,000 km). This view is projected from a point 1,118 miles (1,800 km) above Pluto’s equator, looking northeast over the dark, cratered Cthulhu Regio toward the bright, smooth expanse of icy plains called Sputnik Planum. Pluto’s North Pole is off the image to the left. This mosaic was produced with panchromatic images from the New Horizons LORRI camera, with color overlaid from the Ralph color mapper onboard New Horizons. Image credit: S.A. Stern et al.

Researchers Say the Reason Pluto Lost Its Planet Status is Not Valid

Sep 10, 2018 by News Staff

In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) established a definition of a planet that required it to clear its orbit, or in other words, be the...

New data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory reveal the presence of very bright X-ray sources, most likely binary systems powered by either a stellar-mass black hole or neutron star, in the remarkable ring of the galaxy AM 0644-741. In this composite image, X-rays from Chandra (purple) have been combined with optical data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (red, green, and blue). Image credit: X-ray – NASA / CXC / INAF / A. Wolter et al; optical – NASA / STScI.

Chandra X-ray Observatory Discovers Ring of Dense Compact Objects in Distant Galaxy

Sep 7, 2018 by News Staff

A remarkable ring of bright X-ray sources — black holes or neutron stars — has been discovered in a galaxy approximately 300 million light...

A red, green, blue composite image of the Large Magellanic Cloud made from radio wavelength observations at 123, 181 and 227 MHz. At these wavelengths, emission from cosmic rays and the hot gases belonging to the star forming regions and supernova remnants of the galaxy are visible. Image credit: International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research.

Astronomers Create Cosmic-Ray Maps of Magellanic Clouds

Sep 6, 2018 by News Staff

By observing two neighboring galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud, using the Murchison Widefield Array radio telescope in...

This image of the Great Red Spot was taken on July 10, 2017, as Juno performed its seventh close flyby of Jupiter. At the time the image was taken, the spacecraft was 8,648 miles (13,917 km) from the tops of the clouds of the planet. Image credit: NASA / SwRI / MSSS.

Scientists Find Water in Jupiter’s Great Red Spot

Sep 3, 2018 by News Staff

By looking from two ground-based telescopes at wavelengths sensitive to thermal radiation leaking from the depths of Jupiter’s mysterious, roiling storm...

This Hubble image shows the lenticular galaxy NGC 4036. The bright star visible slightly to the right of the galactic center is not within the galaxy itself; it sits between us and NGC 4036, adding a burst of brightness to the scene. The image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) instrument. 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 / Judy Schmidt, www.geckzilla.com.

Hubble Space Telescope Looks at NGC 4036

Sep 3, 2018 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a striking photo of the lenticular galaxy NGC 4036. This Hubble image shows the lenticular galaxy NGC...

An artist’s impression of a water-world exoplanet. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Water-World Exoplanets Could Be Friendly to Life

Sep 3, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers have largely assumed that water-world exoplanets would not support the cycling of minerals and gases that keeps the climate stable on Earth,...

This Hubble image is a composite of observations made of Saturn in early 2018 in the optical and of the auroras on Saturn’s north pole region, made in 2017. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / A. Simon, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / OPAL Team / J. DePasquale, STScI / L. Lamy, Observatoire de Paris.

Hubble Captures Enormous Northern Auroras on Saturn

Aug 31, 2018 by News Staff

Viewing Saturn’s northern polar region for a period of seven months, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space telescope snapped a series of stunning images of auroras...

Artist’s impression of the extreme starburst galaxy AzTEC/COSMOS-1. Image credit: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.

ALMA Provides Detailed View of Very Distant Star-Forming Galaxy

Aug 30, 2018 by News Staff

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a team of astronomers revealed that molecular clouds in a galaxy called AzTEC/COSMOS-1,...

This image of the Carina Nebula reveals the dynamic cloud of interstellar matter and thinly spread gas and dust as never before; the massive stars in the interior of this cosmic bubble emit intense radiation that causes the surrounding gas to glow; by contrast, other regions of the nebula contain dark pillars of dust cloaking newborn stars. Image credit: ESO / J. Emerson / M. Irwin / J. Lewis.

VISTA Sees Carina Nebula in Infrared Light

Aug 29, 2018 by News Staff

ESO’s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) at Paranal Observatory in Chile has taken a spectacular infrared image of the Carina...

This Hubble image shows the planetary nebula NGC 3918. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the visible and near-infrared regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2). Several 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.

Hubble Sees Spectacular Cosmic Eye: NGC 3918

Aug 27, 2018 by News Staff

NASA has released a beautiful photo snapped by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of the planetary nebula NGC 3918. This Hubble image shows the planetary...

The distribution of satellite galaxies orbiting a computer-simulated galaxy, as predicted by the Lambda-cold-dark-matter cosmological model. Ultra-faint satellites are amongst the most ancient galaxies in the Universe; they began to form when the Universe was only about 100 million years old. Image credit: Institute for Computational Cosmology, Durham University / Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies / Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics.

Milky Way’s Ultra-Faint Satellites are Some of Universe’s Oldest Galaxies, Astronomers Say

Aug 24, 2018 by News Staff

A team of astronomers from the United States and the United Kingdom has found evidence that Milky Way’s faintest satellites — including dwarf galaxies...

This artist’s impression shows how the gas giant exoplanet inside the disc of Beta Pictoris may look. Image credit: L. Calçada / ESO.

Astronomers Measure Mass of Young Exoplanet Beta Pictoris b

Aug 24, 2018 by News Staff

A duo of astronomers at Leiden University in the Netherlands has deduced the mass of Beta Pictoris b from the motion of its parent star, which lies 63...

Wide field image of the Leo I galaxy group. BST1047+1156 is located at the center of the white box. Image credit: Mihos et al, doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/aad62e.

Astronomers Discover Possible New Member of Leo I Galaxy Group

Aug 23, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

Case Western Reserve University undergraduate student Chris Carr and colleagues have spotted a very diffuse extragalactic cloud in a group of galaxies...

NGC 3199 appears to plough through the star-studded sky like a ship through stormy seas. Image credit: ESO.

NGC 3199: Crescent-Shaped Nebula Shines in New VST Photo

Aug 21, 2018 by News Staff

The VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile has captured an amazing new photo of a nebula known as NGC 3199. NGC 3199 appears...

Water-World Exoplanets Are Common in Milky Way Galaxy, Astronomers Say

Aug 20, 2018 by News Staff

A research team led by Harvard University astronomer Li Zeng has shown that water is likely to be a major component of extrasolar planets which are between...

Hubble’s ultraviolet vision opens a new window on the evolving Universe, tracking the birth of stars over the last 11 billion years back to the cosmos’ busiest star-forming period, about 3 billion years after the Big Bang. This new image from Hubble encompasses a sea of approximately 15,000 galaxies -- 12,000 of which are starburst galaxies -- widely distributed in time and space. Image credit: NASA / ESA / P. Oesch, University of Geneva / M. Montes, University of New South Wales.

New Hubble Image Reveals 15,000 Galaxies Deep in Universe

Aug 20, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers have assembled one of the most comprehensive portraits yet of the Universe’s evolutionary history. Hubble’s ultraviolet vision opens a...

This image shows the newly-discovered galaxy cluster with the central giant elliptical galaxy, which harbors a supermassive black hole. Image credit: Taweewat Somboonpanyakul.

New Massive Galaxy Cluster Discovered

Aug 17, 2018 by News Staff

Dr. Michael McDonald of MIT’s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research and co-authors have uncovered a new massive cluster of galaxies hiding...

An artist’s impression of a gamma-ray burst’s jet. Image credit: S. Wiessinger / NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Bright Gamma-Ray Burst Pulses Exhibit Time-Reversible Wavelike Structures

Aug 17, 2018 by News Staff

A research team headed by College of Charleston astrophysicist Jon Hakkila has discovered a peculiarity in the light curves of astronomical phenomena called...

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

Astronomers Find Iron and Titanium in Atmosphere of Ultrahot Jupiter

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...