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A radio image highlighting the shock wave - seen here as the bright arc running from bottom left to top right - in the cluster CIZA J2242.8+5310. The shock wave was generated 1 billion years ago, when the two original clusters collided, and is moving at a very high speed of 9 million km per hour. Scale bar – 1 million light-years. Image credit: Andra Stroe.

Cluster Merger-Driven Shock Fronts Can Resurrect ‘Red and Dead’ Galaxies

Apr 27, 2015 by News Staff

‘Red and dead’ galaxies that stopped forming stars in the distant past can sometimes come back to life, find two studies published in the journal Monthly...

This image shows the protoplanetary disc surrounding the young star HL Tauri. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO.

Embryonic Planets Found around Young Star HL Tauri

Apr 27, 2015 by News Staff

According to a group of astronomers led by Dr Daniel Tamayo of the University of Toronto Scarborough’s Centre for Planetary Science and the Canadian...

This image illustrates the creation of a runaway galaxy. In the first panel, an ‘intruder’ spiral galaxy approaches a galaxy cluster center, where a compact elliptical galaxy already revolves around a massive central elliptical galaxy. In the second panel, a close encounter occurs and the compact elliptical receives a gravitational kick from the intruder. In the third panel, the compact elliptical escapes the galaxy cluster while the intruder is devoured by the giant elliptical galaxy in the cluster center. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team.

Astronomers Discover 11 Runaway Galaxies

Apr 24, 2015 by News Staff

Dr Igor Chilingarian of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and his colleague, Dr Ivan Zolotukhin of the L’Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique...

This image of the open star cluster Westerlund 2 and its surroundings has been released to celebrate Hubble’s 25th year in orbit. The image’s central region, containing the star cluster, blends visible-light data taken by the Advanced Camera for Surveys and near-infrared exposures taken by the Wide Field Camera 3. The surrounding region is composed of visible-light observations taken by the Advanced Camera for Surveys. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA / A. Nota / Westerlund 2 Science Team.

Hubble Celebrates 25th Anniversary with Amazing Image of Westerlund 2

Apr 23, 2015 by News Staff

To commemorate the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s 25 years of success, astronomers have captured a stunning new image of a distant star cluster known...

This artist’s view shows the hot Jupiter exoplanet 51 Pegasi b. Image credit: ESO / M. Kornmesser / Nick Risinger, skysurvey.org.

Astronomers Detect Reflected Light from Hot Jupiter Exoplanet 51 Pegasi b

Apr 22, 2015 by News Staff

For the first time, astronomers have directly detected visible light reflected off an extrasolar planet. This artist’s view shows the hot Jupiter exoplanet...

This composite image shows the Thor’s Helmet Nebula, also known NGC 2359. It combines X-ray data collected by XMM-Newton (blue) with optical observations from the Star Shadows Remote Observatory (green and red). North is to the left, west is up. Image credit: J.A. Toala & M.A. Guerrero, IAA-CSIC / Y.-H. Chu, UIUC-ASIAA / R.A. Gruendl, UIUC / S. Mazlin, J. Harvey, D. Verschatse & R. Gilbert, SSRO-South / ESA.

Astronomers Capture Extraordinary View of Thor’s Helmet Nebula

Apr 21, 2015 by News Staff

Astronomers using the EPIC cameras on ESA’s XMM-Newton space observatory and the Star Shadows Remote Observatory at New Mexico Skies and Cerro Tololo...

Artist’s depiction of a black hole merger. Image credit: NASA / CXC / A. Hobart / Josh Barnes, University of Hawaii / John Hibbard, NRAO.

Astronomers Discover Extremely Close Pair of Supermassive Black Holes

Apr 21, 2015 by News Staff

A group of astronomers led by Tingting Liu of the University of Maryland has discovered a pulsing light signal that hints at a close pair of supermassive...

The supervoid. Image credit: István Szapudi et al.

Supervoid: Astronomers Find Large ‘Hole’ in Universe

Apr 21, 2015 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers led by Dr Istvan Szapudi of the University of Hawaii’s Institute for Astronomy has discovered a large supervoid...

This image shows the peculiar galaxy ESO 162-17. Image credit: ESA / Hubble / NASA.

Hubble Zooms in on Peculiar Galaxy ESO 162-17

Apr 20, 2015 by News Staff

Using the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have taken a stunning image of the galaxy ESO 162-17. This image...

Resembling looming rain clouds on a stormy day, dark lanes of dust crisscross the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 5128, also known as Centaurus A. The warped shape of NGC 5128’s disk of gas and dust is evidence for a past collision and merger with another galaxy. The resulting shockwaves cause hydrogen gas clouds to compress, triggering a firestorm of new star formation. At a distance of just over 11 million light-years, NGC 5128 contains the closest active galactic nucleus to Earth. The center is home for a supermassive black hole that ejects jets of high-speed gas into space, but neither the supermassive black hole or the jets are visible in this image. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage / STScI / AURA / Hubble Collaboration / R. O'Connell, University of Virginia / WFC3 Scientific Oversight Committee.

Star Formation Stops in Cores of Elliptical Galaxies First, Astronomers Say

Apr 17, 2015 by News Staff

A new study in the journal Science has revealed that 3 billion years after the Big Bang, elliptical galaxies still made stars on their outskirts, but no...

This image shows Abell 3827, a massive galaxy cluster approximately 1.3 billion light years away. The blue structures surrounding the central galaxies are gravitationally lensed views of a much more distant galaxy behind the cluster. Observations of the central four merging galaxies have provided hints that the dark matter around one of the galaxies is not moving with the galaxy itself, possibly implying dark matter-dark matter interactions of an unknown nature are occurring. Image credit: ESO.

Astronomers Observe Potential Signs of Self-Interacting Dark Matter

Apr 15, 2015 by News Staff

Using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the MUSE instrument on ESO’s VLT in Chile, an international group of scientists led by Dr Richard Massey...

This map of our Milky Way Galaxy shows the location of the gas giant OGLE-2014-BLG-0124Lb and other exoplanets discovered with microlensing. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Astronomers Discover Extrasolar Gas Giant 13,000 Light-Years Away

Apr 15, 2015 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and the Polish Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) telescope at the Las Campanas Observatory...

This image, from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys, shows the ultraluminous infrared galaxy Arp 220. Image credit: NASA / ESA / C. Wilson, McMaster University.

Search for Extraterrestrial Super-Civilizations Finds Nothing in 100,000 WISE Galaxies

Apr 15, 2015 by News Staff

Astronomers led by Roger Griffith of the Pennsylvania State University say they have found no evidence of so-called Type III Kardashev super-civilizations...

This map shows the detailed distribution of dark matter across a large area of sky. The color scale represents projected mass density: red and yellow represent regions with more dense matter. Clusters of galaxies are represented by gray dots on the map - bigger dots represent larger clusters. The insets are images of two galaxy clusters and a cosmic void. Image credit: Dark Energy Survey.

Scientists Create Dark Matter Map

Apr 14, 2015 by News Staff

Researchers using data from the Dark Energy Camera (DEC) – an imaging device that is the primary instrument for the Dark Energy Survey – have...

This image shows the shell elliptical galaxy NGC 2865. Image credit: ESA / Hubble / NASA / Judy Schmidt.

Hubble Sees Shell Elliptical Galaxy NGC 2865

Apr 13, 2015 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have obtained a remarkable new view of a distant galaxy called NGC 2865. This image shows the shell...

Astronomers have reported near-infrared interferometric measurements of the angular size of Nova Delphini 2013, starting one day after the explosion and continuing with extensive time coverage during the first 43 days. The image shows Tycho's supernova remnant. Image credit: X-ray - NASA / CXC / SAO; infrared - NASA / JPL-Caltech; optical - MPIA / Calar Alto / O.Krause et al.

Type Ia Supernovae More Diverse than Thought

Apr 13, 2015 by News Staff

Type Ia supernovae, which are bright beacons used as distance markers both for studying the expansion rate of the Universe, and for measuring cosmological...

This illustration depicts a view of the night sky from a hypothetical planet within the young Milky Way Galaxy 10 billion years ago; glowing pink clouds of hydrogen gas harbor countless newborn stars, and the bluish-white hue of young star clusters litter the landscape; the star-birth rate is 30 times higher than it is in our Galaxy today; our Sun, however, is not among these fledgling stars; the Sun will not be born for another 5 billion years. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Z. Levay, STScI.

Astronomers Trace Evolution of Milky Way-Like Galaxies

Apr 10, 2015 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers has found that Milky Way-like galaxies underwent a stellar ‘baby boom’ in their early history, creating stars...

Artist impression of the protoplanetary disc around MWC 480. Image credit: B. Saxton / NRAO / AUI / NSF.

Complex Organic Molecules Detected in Protoplanetary System MWC 480

Apr 8, 2015 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have detected the presence of complex carbon-based molecules – methyl cyanide...

This composite image shows the gravitationally lensed galaxy SDP.81; the bright orange central region of the ring reveals the glowing dust in this distant galaxy; the surrounding lower-resolution portions of the ring trace the millimeter wavelength light emitted by carbon monoxide; the diffuse blue element at the center of the ring is from the intervening lensing galaxy. Image credit: ALMA / NRAO / ESO / NAOJ / B. Saxton / AUI / NSF / NASA / ESA / Hubble / T. Hunter.

ALMA Images of Lensed Galaxy SDP.81 Reveal Einstein Ring

Apr 8, 2015 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have captured stunning images of a gravitationally lensed galaxy called HATLAS...