Astronomy News

Mars and Saturn Photographed Near Opposition

This image shows the recent observations of the planets Mars and Saturn made with Hubble. Image credit: NASA / ESA / A. Simon, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / OPAL Team / J. DePasquale, STScI.
Jul 27, 2018 by News Staff

In summer 2018 Mars and Saturn are, one after the other, in opposition to Earth. Around the time of opposition, a planet is at its closest distance to Earth for a given year. Because of the close proximity, a planet also appears brightest in the sky. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope took advantage of this preferred configuration and imaged both Mars and Saturn to continue its observation of the outer planets in our Solar System. This image shows...

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Einstein’s General Relativity Passes Black Hole Test

Jul 27, 2018 by News Staff

At the center of our Milky Way Galaxy lies the 4-million-solar-mass black hole named Sagittarius A*. This gravitational monster is surrounded by a group...

On August 31, 2012, a long filament of solar material that had been hovering in the Sun’s atmosphere, the corona, erupted out into space at 4:36 p.m. EDT. The CME traveled at over 900 miles per second. It did not travel directly toward Earth, but did connect with Earth’s magnetic environment, or magnetosphere, with a glancing blow, causing aurora to appear on the night of September 3. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Reveals Sounds of the Sun

Jul 26, 2018 by News Staff

Data from the NASA/ESA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) have captured the dynamic movement of the Sun’s atmosphere for over two decades. Now,...

An artist’s concept showing the gaseous halo surrounding a galaxy, illuminated by a narrow band of ultraviolet light called Lyman alpha emission. Image credit: T. Klein, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Giant Gaseous Halo Surrounds Young Star-Forming Galaxy

Jul 26, 2018 by News Staff

Q2343-BX418, a young star-forming galaxy located about 10 billion light years away from Earth, is surrounded by an enormous halo of gas, according to new...

Andromeda Galaxy Merged with Massive Neighbor 2 Billion Years Ago

Jul 24, 2018 by News Staff

The Andromeda galaxy, also known as Messier 31, collided and merged with a large galaxy approximately 2 billion years ago, according to new research. Even...

This color image of NGC 6744 was made from separate exposures taken in the visible, ultraviolet and infrared regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). Seven 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.

Hubble Sees Beautiful Spiral Galaxy NGC 6744

Jul 23, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new image snapped by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reveals a detailed view of part of NGC 6744, one of the most Milky Way-like spiral galaxies...

Artist’s illustration depicting the destruction of a young planet. Image credit: NASA / CXC / M.Weiss.

Young Star Caught Snacking on Planetary Debris

Jul 19, 2018 by News Staff

For decades, astronomers have puzzled over the variability of young stars residing in Taurus-Auriga dark clouds, a group of molecular clouds located in...

This image of Neptune was obtained during the testing of the Narrow-Field adaptive optics mode of the MUSE/GALACSI instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. Image credit: ESO / P. Weilbacher, AIP.

ESO’s Very Large Telescope Captures Sharp Images of Neptune

Jul 19, 2018 by News Staff

The Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) has achieved the first light with a new adaptive optics mode...

An artist’s impression of the giant exoplanet 2MASS 0249c. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Astronomers Find Twin of Giant Exoplanet Beta Pictoris b

Jul 18, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers have discovered a giant gaseous planet orbiting a pair of brown dwarfs called 2MASS J02495639-0557352AB (2MASS 0249 for short). The new exoplanet,...

Various groupings of Jupiter’s moons with the newly-discovered ones shown in bold; Valetudo has a prograde orbit that crosses the retrograde orbits. Image credit: Roberto Molar-Candanosa / Carnegie Institution for Science.

Astronomers Discover Twelve New Jovian Moons

Jul 18, 2018 by News Staff

A team of astronomers led by Dr. Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution for Science has discovered twelve new moons orbiting Jupiter: eleven ‘normal’...

Using NASA/ESA Hubble and ESA’s Gaia space telescopes, Riess et al have made the most precise measurements to date of the Universe’s expansion rate. This is calculated by gauging the distances between nearby galaxies using special types of stars called Cepheid variables as cosmic yardsticks. By comparing their intrinsic brightness as measured by Hubble, with their apparent brightness as seen from Earth, scientists can calculate their distances. Gaia further refines this yardstick by geometrically measuring the distances to Cepheid variables within the Milky Way Galaxy. This allowed astronomers to more precisely calibrate the distances to Cepheids that are seen in outside galaxies. Image credit: NASA / ESA / A. Field, STScI.

Universe’s Expansion Measured with Greatest Precision Yet

Jul 16, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers have used the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and ESA’s Gaia space observatory to make the most precise measurements of the expansion rate...

This image, taken with the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on board the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows the galaxy cluster SDSS J1336-0331. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Catches Enormous Cluster of Galaxies

Jul 16, 2018 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has produced this beautiful image of a massive galaxy cluster called SDSS J1336-0331. This image, taken with the Wide...

A bi-static radar image of the binary asteroid 2017 YE5 from the Arecibo Observatory and the Green Bank Observatory on June 25, 2018. Image credit: Arecibo / GBO / NSF / NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Astronomers Spot Rare Binary Asteroid: 2017 YE5

Jul 13, 2018 by News Staff

New observations by NASA’s Goldstone Solar System Radar in California, Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico and the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia...

An artist’s impression of a blazar. Image credit: DESY / Science Communication Lab.

Astronomers Pinpoint Source of High-Energy Neutrinos for First Time

Jul 13, 2018 by News Staff

A large multinational team of astronomers has found the first evidence of a source of super-energetic neutrino particles: a distant blazar — the...

This image from the HAWK-I/GRAAL system on ESO’s Very Large Telescope shows the super star cluster RCW 38. Image credit: K. Muzic / ESO.

ESO’s Very Large Telescope Takes Closer Look at RCW 38

Jul 11, 2018 by Natali Anderson

The High Acuity Wide field K-band Imager (HAWK-I) on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile has taken the most detailed infrared image so far of a...

This artist’s impression shows Ross 128b, with the red dwarf star Ross 128 in the background. This system is located in the constellation of Virgo, about 11 light-years away. Ross 128b is 20 times closer to the star than the Earth is to the Sun, and takes just 9.9 days to circle it. The planet’s equilibrium temperature is estimated to be 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 degrees Celsius). Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Exoplanet Ross 128b Likely Has Temperate Climate: Study

Jul 11, 2018 by News Staff

Understanding which chemical elements are present in a star in what abundances can help astronomers estimate the makeup of planets that orbit them, which...

An artist’s conception of PSO J352.4034-15.3373, with disk of material orbiting the black hole and jet of fast-moving particles ejected into space. Image credit: Robin Dienel / Carnegie Institution for Science.

Radio-Bright Quasar May Provide Clues about Physical Processes in Early Universe’s Galaxies

Jul 10, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers using NSF’s Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) have found a quasar with the brightest radio emission ever observed in the early Universe. An...

This Hubble image shows the irregular galaxy UGC 12682. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Snaps Stunning Irregular Galaxy Image

Jul 9, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a picture of a little known galaxy called UGC 12682. This Hubble image shows the irregular galaxy UGC 12682....

An artist’s impression of the triple star system PSR J0337+1715, which is located about 4,200 light-years from Earth. Image credit: NRAO / AUI / NSF / S. Dagnello.

Scientists Test Einstein’s Theory of Gravity on Unique Triple-Star System

Jul 5, 2018 by News Staff

In a new test of Einstein’s theory of gravity, a group of astronomers from the Netherlands, the United States, Australia and Canada has demonstrated...

An impression of the encounter between the Milky Way and the Sausage dwarf galaxy. Image credit: V. Belokurov / Juan Carlos Muñoz / ESO.

‘Sausage’ Galaxy Crashed into Milky Way 8-10 Billion Years Ago

Jul 5, 2018 by News Staff

An unknown dwarf galaxy, dubbed ‘Sausage’ galaxy, smashed into our own Milky Way Galaxy around 8 to 10 billion years ago, a team of astronomers suggests....

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