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This artist’s conception shows a hypothetical tidally-locked planet with two moons orbiting in the habitable zone of a red dwarf star. Image credit: D. Aguilar / Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Tidally-Locked Planets More Common than Previously Thought, Astronomer Says

Aug 16, 2017 by News Staff

Dr. Rory Barnes, an assistant professor in the Department of Astronomy and Astrobiology Program at the University of Washington, arrived at this finding...

This illustration shows a likely configuration of a gravitational lensing system discovered by the team: the milli-lens is located in or near the intervening spiral galaxy; the lens is magnifying blobs of jet material within the active galaxy PKS1413+135, but the blobs are too small to be seen in the radio image (top left); only when the blobs move far away from the yellow core do they expand and are visible as the pink blobs in the image. Image credit: Anthony Readhead / Caltech / MOJAVE.

Gravitational ‘Milli-Lens’ Reveals Clumps of Hot Gas Streaming from Supermassive Black Hole

Aug 16, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers has found evidence for a unique gravitational lensing system, in which a massive star cluster is magnifying an extremely...

This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the dwarf spiral galaxy IC 1727. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Spots Highly Distorted Spiral Galaxy: IC 1727

Aug 14, 2017 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a picture of the dwarf spiral galaxy IC 1727. This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the...

This illustration shows what the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system might look like from a vantage point near TRAPPIST-1f (at right). Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

TRAPPIST-1 Planetary System Could Be 10 Billion Years Old, Astronomers Say

Aug 14, 2017 by News Staff

A research team says the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system — a compact system of at least seven exoplanets with sizes similar to Earth — formed between...

This image shows the barred-ring spiral galaxy NGC 7098 (center). An array of distant galaxies are also visible throughout the frame, the most prominent being the small, edge-on, spiral galaxy visible to the left of NGC 7098, known as ESO 048-G007. Image credit: ESO.

VLT Captures Stunning Image of Barred-Ring Spiral Galaxy NGC 7098

Aug 10, 2017 by News Staff

ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) at Paranal Observatory in Chile has snapped an amazing new photo of NGC 7098, a spiral galaxy with numerous sets of...

Artist’s illustration of a four-planet system. Image credit: Mark A. Garlick, University of Warwick / Space-art.co.uk.

Four Exoplanets Detected around Nearby Star Tau Ceti

Aug 10, 2017 by News Staff

A multinational group of astronomers has detected four possible alien worlds circling tau Ceti, which is less than 12 light-years from our Solar System. Artist’s...

The solar eclipse petroglyph in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. Image credit: J. McKim Malville, University of Colorado.

Strange Petroglyph in Chaco Canyon May Represent Ancient Total Solar Eclipse

Aug 10, 2017 by News Staff

A petroglyph on the south face of Piedra del Sol, a free-standing rock in New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon, may depict the solar corona observed during the...

According to Elbert et al, there are probably millions of stellar-remnant black holes in our Milky Way Galaxy -- far more than expected. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Milky Way Galaxy May Host Millions of Stellar-Remnant Black Holes

Aug 9, 2017 by News Staff

A trio of astronomers at the University of California, Irvine, claims that stellar-remnant black holes, which result from the collapse of massive stars...

This image from the Keck Telescope shows an extremely bright, nearly circular storm system near Neptune’s equator. Image credit: Ned Molter & Imke de Pater, University of California, Berkeley / C. Alvarez, W. M. Keck Observatory.

Giant, Extremely Bright Storm System Spotted in Neptune’s Atmosphere

Aug 8, 2017 by News Staff

An unusually bright storm system nearly the size of Earth has been spotted in the atmosphere of Neptune, baffling researchers because it is located near...

This artist’s conception illustrates one of the most primitive supermassive black holes known at the core of a young, star-rich galaxy. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Primordial Black Hole-Neutron Star Interactions May Have Helped to Forge Universe’s Heaviest Elements

Aug 7, 2017 by News Staff

In a paper to be published in the journal Physical Review Letters (arXiv.org preprint), Professor George Fuller of the University of California, San Diego,...

This image from Hubble’s WFC3 is likely the best of the dwarf galaxy NGC 5949. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Observes Dwarf Galaxy NGC 5949

Aug 7, 2017 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a picture of the galaxy NGC 5949, which is found in the constellation of Draco. This image from Hubble’s...

A size comparison of Jupiter and WASP-167b (KELT-13b). Image credit: Keele University.

New Hot-Jupiter Exoplanet Discovered: WASP-167b (KELT-13b)

Aug 5, 2017 by Natali Anderson

A multinational group of astronomers and astrophysicists has discovered a hot-Jupiter orbiting a rapidly rotating star 1,243 light-years from Earth. A...

The top of WASP-121b’s atmosphere is heated to a blazing 4,600 degrees Fahrenheit. Image credit: NASA / ESA / G. Bacon, STSci.

Stratosphere Detected around Hot Jupiter WASP-121b

Aug 3, 2017 by News Staff

An international research team led by University of Exeter astronomer Dr. Tom Evans has revealed a stratosphere containing water and possibly oxides of...

This artist’s impression shows Proxima b orbiting Proxima Centauri, which at only 4.23 light-years is the closest star to our Solar System. The double star Alpha Centauri AB also appears in the image between the exoplanet and Proxima itself. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

New Study Questions Exoplanet Proxima b’s Ability to Retain Earth-Like Atmosphere

Aug 2, 2017 by News Staff

According to new research from NASA scientists, Proxima b may not be able to keep a grip on its atmosphere, leaving the surface exposed to harmful radiation. This...

Flaring, active regions of the Sun are highlighted in this image combining observations from several telescopes. High-energy X-rays from NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) are shown in blue; low-energy X-rays from Japan’s Hinode spacecraft are green; and extreme ultraviolet light from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is yellow and red. All three telescopes captured their solar images around the same time on April 29, 2015. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / GSFC / JAXA.

Sun’s Core Rotates Nearly 4 Times Faster than Its Surface, SOHO Data Reveal

Aug 2, 2017 by News Staff

Using data from the NASA/ESA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), solar physicists have found evidence of a type of seismic wave (gravity waves,...

SDSS DR14 image of the massive spiral galaxy NGC 3191; the cross-hairs mark the position of SN 2017egm. Image credit: SDSS.

SN 2017egm: ‘Heavy Metal’ Superluminous Supernova Discovered in NGC 3191

Aug 1, 2017 by News Staff

At a distance of 420 million light-years, the recently-discovered SN 2017egm is the nearest Type I superluminous supernova to date, and the first near...

An all-sky image of the Milky Way Galaxy, as observed by ESA’s Planck Space Observatory in IR. The data contained in this image were used in this research and were essential in calculating the distribution of the light energy of the Galaxy. Image credit: ESA / HFI / LFI consortia.

Researchers Map Light Energy Distribution in Milky Way Galaxy

Jul 31, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has used data from ESA’s Planck Space Observatory and other telescopes to map the distribution of all light energy...

This image from Hubble shows the spiral galaxy NGC 4656. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Snaps Image of Hockey Stick Galaxy

Jul 31, 2017 by Natali Anderson

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has delivered an unrivalled snapshot of the hockey stick-shaped galaxy NGC 4656. This image from Hubble shows the spiral...

This composite image shows the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1512 (left) and the elliptical galaxy NGC 1510 (right). Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Spies Cosmic ‘David and Goliath’ in Gravitational Dance

Jul 27, 2017 by News Staff

This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope features two stunning galaxies — the compact elliptical galaxy NGC 1510 and its colossal neighbor,...