Astronomy News

ESA’s Gaia Space Telescope Traces Milky Way’s Stellar Families

Gaia’s all-sky view of our Milky Way Galaxy and neighboring galaxies, based on measurements of nearly 1.7 billion stars. Brighter regions indicate denser concentrations of especially bright stars, while darker regions correspond to patches of the sky where fewer bright stars are observed. The color representation is obtained by combining the total amount of light with the amount of blue and red light recorded by Gaia in each patch of the sky. The bright horizontal structure that dominates the image is the Galactic plane, the flattened disc that hosts most of the stars in our home Galaxy. In the middle of the image, the Galactic center appears vivid and teeming with stars. Darker regions across the Galactic plane correspond to foreground clouds of interstellar gas and dust, which absorb the light of stars located further away, behind the clouds. Many of these conceal stellar nurseries where new generations of stars are being born. Sprinkled across the image are also many globular and open clusters -- groupings of stars held together by their mutual gravity, as well as entire galaxies beyond our own. The two bright objects in the lower right of the image are the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, two dwarf galaxies orbiting the Milky Way. In small areas of the image where no color information was available -- to the lower left of the Galactic center, to the upper left of the Small Magellanic Cloud, and in the top portion of the map -- an equivalent grayscale value was assigned. Image credit: ESA / Gaia / DPAC.
Sep 2, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using data from ESA’s Gaia spacecraft have identified a number of clusters, associations and co-moving groups of stars within about 3,300 light-years. Many of these stellar groups appear to be filamentary or string-like, oriented in parallel to the Milky Way’s plane, and some span hundreds of light-years in length. Gaia’s all-sky view of our Milky Way Galaxy and neighboring galaxies, based on measurements of nearly 1.7 billion stars....

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This Hubble image shows the dwarf galaxy UGC 685, which lies in the constellation of Pisces, 15.7 million light-years away. 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) and Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). Three 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 / LEGUS Team / B. Tully / D. Calzetti / Judy Schmidt, www.geckzilla.com.

Hubble Images Dwarf Galaxy UGC 685

Sep 2, 2019 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a striking new photo of a dwarf irregular galaxy named UGC 685. This Hubble image shows the dwarf galaxy...

An artist’s impression of an exo-Io undergoing extreme mass loss. The hidden exomoon is enshrouded in an irradiated gas cloud shining in bright orange-yellow, as would be seen with a sodium filter. Patches of sodium clouds are seen to trail the lunar orbit, possibly driven by the gas giant’s magnetosphere. Image credit: Thibaut Roger / University of Bern.

Astronomers Find Evidence for Volcanic Moon Orbiting Jupiter-Like Exoplanet WASP-49b

Aug 30, 2019 by News Staff

A volcanically active rocky exomoon may orbit WASP-49b, a hot gas giant approximately 550 light-years away in the constellation of Lepus. An artist’s...

An artist’s impression of a hot-Jupiter exoplanet. Image credit: C. Carreau / ESA.

Hot Jupiters Have Rocky Clouds on Their Nightsides

Aug 29, 2019 by News Staff

The temperature on the nightsides of short-period gas giants (hot Jupiters) is surprisingly uniform, suggesting the dark sides of these exoplanets have...

An artist’s concept of a giant exoplanet. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / S. Wiessinger.

Astronomers Find Giant Exoplanet with Extreme Orbit

Aug 29, 2019 by News Staff

Using data from several ground-based telescopes, astronomers found that a nearby star called HR 5183 hosts a giant planet with an orbital period of between...

This composite image of Cassiopeia A combines data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory color coded by element, ground-based images obtained in 1996 and 1999, and images taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope between 2004 and 2011. Image credit: NASA / CXC / SAO / STScI.

Chandra Tracks Evolution of Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant

Aug 28, 2019 by News Staff

A new video released by NASA’s Chandra mission shows how Cassiopeia A has evolved over more than a dozen years in X-ray light. Cassiopeia A, which is...

GRB 160821B occurred in the outskirts of a spiral galaxy about two billion light-years away, at a projected offset of 52,185 light-years from the galaxy’s center. Image credit: Troja et al, doi: 10.1093/mnras/stz2255.

Astronomers Detect New Kilonova Explosion

Aug 28, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers have re-examined data from GRB 160821B, a short duration gamma-ray burst spotted on August 21, 2016, and found evidence for a kilonova, an...

An artist’s rendering of potentially habitable exoplanets, plus Earth (top right) and Mars (top center). Image credit: PHL@UPR Arecibo, phl.upr.edu / NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Alien Life on Some Extrasolar Planets Could Be More Diverse than on Earth

Aug 26, 2019 by News Staff

In a new study, University of Chicago researcher Stephanie Olson and colleagues modeled climates and ocean habitats of different types of extrasolar planets...

It’s raining on Titan. Image credit: David A. Hardy, AstroArt / NASA.

Astronomers Detect Propadiene on Saturn’s Moon Titan

Aug 26, 2019 by Sergio Prostak

Astronomers using the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) have spotted propadiene — a colorless, flammable gas, best known as a fuel for specialized...

This Hubble image shows the planetary nebula NGC 5307. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the visible and near-infrared regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). It is based on data obtained through two filters. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / R. Wade et al.

Hubble Space Telescope Observes NGC 5307

Aug 26, 2019 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has produced a spectacular image of a planetary nebula called NGC 5307. This Hubble image shows the planetary nebula...

Astronomers Peer Deep into Turbulent Atmosphere of Jupiter

Aug 23, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers has managed to peer deep into the Jovian atmosphere using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)...

An artist’s concept of the SN 2016iet pair-instability supernova. Image credit: Gemini Observatory / NSF / AURA / Joy Pollard.

New Type of Supernova Totally Annihilates Its Parent Star

Aug 22, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers have announced the discovery of the most massive star ever known to be destroyed by a supernova explosion. Dubbed SN 2016iet, the explosive...

Two giant planets, Beta Pictoris b and c, orbit the nearby, young star Beta Pictoris. Image credit: P. Rubini / A.-M. Lagrange.

Second Planet Found Hiding in Beta Pictoris System

Aug 21, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using data from ESO’s High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) instrument, a multinational team of astronomers has uncovered evidence for...

An artist’s conception of the Earth-sized exoplanet LHS 3844b which orbits a small star 49 light-years from Earth. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / R. Hurt, IPAC.

Earth-Sized Exoplanet LHS 3844b is Similar to Mercury, Astronomers Say

Aug 20, 2019 by News Staff

LHS 3844b, a 1.3-Earth-radii terrestrial world in an 11-hour orbit around the small nearby star LHS 3844, very likely has little to no atmosphere and could...

The Kohnen Station in Antarctica. Image credit: Sepp Kipfstuhl.

Scientists Find Interstellar Iron in Antarctic Snow

Aug 20, 2019 by Natali Anderson

A team of researchers from Germany, Austria and Australia has found traces of the radioactive isotope iron-60 — the tell-tale signature of a supernova...

This image shows the planetary nebula NGC 2371/2. The picture was snapped by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2). The color composite was assembled from images taken in visible and infrared light. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / R. Wade et al.

Hubble Spots Bipolar Planetary Nebula

Aug 19, 2019 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has delivered an unrivalled snapshot of the bipolar (two-lobed) planetary nebula NGC 2371/2. This image shows the planetary...

Massive and dusty star-forming galaxies are visible to ALMA (right), but invisible to Hubble (left). Image credit: Wang et al.

Astronomers Spot Massive Star-Forming Galaxies in Early Universe

Aug 16, 2019 by News Staff

Using data from multiple space- and ground-based telescopes, an international team of astronomers has discovered 39 massive star-forming galaxies at a...

An artist’s impression of a flare erupting from the star Proxima Centauri and the glowing exoplanet Proxima b. Image credit: Roberto Molar Candanosa, Carnegie Institution for Science / NASA / SDO / JPL / Sci-News.com.

Biofluorescence Could Expose Hidden Alien Life on Exoplanets around Red Dwarfs

Aug 14, 2019 by News Staff

Powerful flares from M-type stars (red dwarfs) — once thought to destroy life on their planets — might help uncover hidden biospheres; their...

Glitch in Vela Pulsar Provides Unique Opportunity to Study Neutron Star’s Interior

Aug 13, 2019 by News Staff

Pulsars are rapidly rotating neutron stars observed to have pulses of radiation at very regular intervals that typically range from milliseconds to seconds....

This Spitzer image shows the edge-on lenticular galaxy NGC 5866. The colors represent three infrared wavelengths captured by Spitzer’s Infrared Array Camera. Blue light corresponds to Spitzer’s observations at a wavelength of 3.6 microns, produced mainly by stars; green corresponds to 4.5 microns; and red corresponds to 8 microns. In this image, the blue haze is produced by stars that make up most of the mass of NGC 5866. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Spitzer Spots Perfect Edge-On Galaxy: NGC 5866

Aug 13, 2019 by News Staff

NASA has released a stunning infrared image taken by the agency’s Spitzer Space Telescope of a lenticular galaxy called NGC 5866. This Spitzer image...

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