Astronomy News

Astronomers Obtain Sharpest Ever Image of R Aquarii

This image taken by ESO’s Very Large Telescope shows the binary system R Aquarii and the jets of material spewing from the stellar couple. Image credit: ESO / Schmid et al.
Dec 27, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet Research (SPHERE) instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope have captured dramatic details of the turbulent stellar relationship in a binary star system called R Aquarii. This image taken by ESO’s Very Large Telescope shows the binary system R Aquarii and the jets of material spewing from the stellar couple. Image credit: ESO / Schmid et al. Located 650 light-years away, R Aquarii...

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This Hubble image shows RS Puppis, one of the most luminous in the class of Cepheid variable stars. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA / H. Bond, STScI and Pennsylvania State University.

Hubble Observes Variable Star RS Puppis and Surrounding Nebula

Dec 25, 2018 by News Staff

NASA has released a striking photo taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of RS Puppis, a Cepheid type variable star. The brightest star in the Hubble...

This Hubble image shows the globular cluster NGC 1466. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

NGC 1466: Brilliant Globular Cluster Shines in New Hubble Photo

Dec 24, 2018 by News Staff

NASA has released a beautiful photo taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of an ancient star cluster called NGC 1466. This Hubble image shows the...

These three radar images of near-Earth asteroid 2003 SD220 were obtained on December 15-17, 2018. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / GSSR / NSF / GBO.

Asteroid 2003 SD220 Makes Close Approach to Earth

Dec 24, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers working with NASA’s Goldstone Deep Space Network, NSF’s Green Bank Telescope and Arecibo Observatory’s 1,000-foot (305-m) antenna have...

ALMA image of 46P/Wirtanen taken on December 2, 2018, as the comet approached Earth. The image shows the concentration and distribution of HCN molecules near the center of the comet’s coma. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / M. Cordiner / NASA / CUA.

ALMA Takes Close Look at Comet 46P/Wirtanen

Dec 24, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) captured the radio image of 46P/Wirtanen on December 2, 2018, when the comet...

Hubble captured this view of comet 46P/Wirtanen on December 13, 2018. Image credit: NASA / ESA / D. Bodewits, Auburn University / J.-Y. Li, Planetary Science Institute.

Hubble and SOFIA Capture New Images of Comet 46P/Wirtanen

Dec 21, 2018 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) snapped stunning images of a short-period comet...

The galaxy cluster Abell S1063 was observed by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope as part of the Frontier Fields Program. The huge mass of the cluster -- containing both baryonic matter and dark matter -- acts as cosmic magnification glass and deforms objects behind it. In the past astronomers used this gravitational lensing effect to calculate the distribution of dark matter in galaxy clusters. A more accurate and faster way, however, is to study the intracluster light (visible in blue), which follows the distribution of dark matter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / M. Montes, University of New South Wales.

Intracluster Light Illuminates Dark Matter in Galaxy Clusters

Dec 20, 2018 by News Staff

Dark matter is a mysterious substance that makes up about 85% of the matter in the Universe. It does not emit any kind of electromagnetic radiation and...

Material from the dusty and gas-rich disk (orange) plus hot gas (blue) mildly flows onto the star, creating a hot spot. Image credit: Caltech / T. Pyle, IPAC.

Astronomers Spot Young Star in ‘Growth Spurt’

Dec 19, 2018 by News Staff

A young star in the midst of a dramatic growth phase has been observed with the help of ESA’s Gaia satellite and NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide-field...

Simulation of galaxies and gas in the Universe: within the gas in the (blue) filaments connecting the (orange) galaxies lurk rare pockets of pristine gas. Image credit: TNG Collaboration.

Astronomers Find Pristine Gas Cloud 12.3 Billion Light-Years Away

Dec 18, 2018 by News Staff

According to a Swinburne University of Technology-led study, the newly-discovered relic cloud of gas is unpolluted by stars even 1.5 billion years after...

An artist’s concept of 2018 VG18. Image credit: Roberto Molar Candanosa / Carnegie Institution for Science.

2018 VG18 Farout: Astronomers Discover Most Distant Solar System Object Ever

Dec 18, 2018 by News Staff

Carnegie Institution astronomer Dr. Scott S. Sheppard, University of Hawaii’s Dr. David Tholen and Northern Arizona University’s Dr. Chad Trujillo...

An artist’s impression of the Neptune-sized exoplanet K2-263b. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Astronomers Discover Icy Neptune-Sized Exoplanet: K2-263b

Dec 17, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers have discovered a frozen exoplanet nearly the size of Neptune orbiting the quiet G9-type dwarf star K2-263. An artist’s impression of the...

This 120 second image of comet 46P/Wirtanen was taken December 2, 2018 by an iTelescope 50 mm refractor located at an observatory near Mayhill, New Mexico. The streak below the comet was produced by a rocket body (upper stage) passing through the telescope’s field of view during the exposure. Specifically, the upper stage is the one that placed the Indonesian Garuda 1 communications satellite into geostationary orbit back in February of 2000. At the time of this image, the Garuda 1 upper stage was 15,880 miles (25,556 km) from the observatory; 46P/Wirtanen was 10.3 million miles (16.6 million km) distant. Image credit: NASA.

Comet 46P/Wirtanen to Make Closest Approach to Earth in Over Four Centuries

Dec 15, 2018 by News Staff

On Sunday, December 16, 2018, comet 46P/Wirtanen will make a close pass of Earth. The comet will be at its closest distance to our planet in over four...

This artist’s illustration shows a giant cloud of hydrogen streaming off the warm Neptune GJ 3470b. The host star’s intense radiation is heating the hydrogen in the planet’s upper atmosphere to a point where it escapes into space. GJ 3470b is losing hydrogen at a rate 100 times faster than a previously observed warm Neptune whose atmosphere is also evaporating away. Image credit: NASA / ESA / D. Player, STScI.

Hubble Finds Fast-Evaporating Warm Neptune: GJ 3470b

Dec 14, 2018 by News Staff

Extrasolar ‘Neptunes’ are exoplanets with masses and radii similar to those of the ice giants in the Solar System. In 2015, astronomers using the NASA/ESA...

An artist’s impression of the disk of dust and gas surrounding the massive protostar MM 1a, with its companion MM 1b forming in the outer regions. Image credit: J.D. Ilee, University of Leeds.

Smaller Member of Binary Protostar Caught Forming Like Planet

Dec 14, 2018 by News Staff

While observing a massive protostar called G11.92-0.61 MM 1, a research team led by University of Leeds astronomers discovered it was not in fact one stellar...

ALMA’s high-resolution images of nearby protoplanetary disks. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / S. Andrews et al / AUI / NSF / S. Dagnello.

ALMA Captures Stunning Views of Protoplanetary Disks

Dec 13, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have conducted one of the deepest surveys ever of protoplanetary disks —...

An artist’s rendition of a supernova explosion. Image credit: ESA / Hubble / L. Calcada / NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Nearby Supernova Explosions Triggered End-Pliocene Marine Mass Extinction, Researchers Say

Dec 13, 2018 by News Staff

Approximately 2.6 million years ago (Pliocene epoch), a tsunami of cosmic energy from a massive supernova or a series of them about 150 light-years away...

This Hubble image shows the grand design spiral galaxy Messier 100. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Captures Striking New Image of Grand Design Spiral Galaxy Messier 100

Dec 10, 2018 by News Staff

A new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the core and the innermost parts of the spiral arms of a galaxy called Messier 100. This Hubble...

This artist’s impression shows the first interstellar asteroid -- 1I/2017 U1 (’Oumuamua). Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

SETI Astronomers Find No Evidence for Artificial Transmitters on Oumuamua

Dec 7, 2018 by News Staff

In October 2017, a fast moving object of extrasolar origin, named ‘Oumuamua, was discovered close to the Earth with a ground-based telescope in Hawai’i....

An artist’s impression of the exoplanet HAT-P-11b with its extended helium atmosphere blown away by the star, an orange dwarf star smaller, but more active, than the Sun. Image credit: Denis Bajram.

Astronomers Spot Helium Cloud around Exo-Neptune HAT-P-11b

Dec 7, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers has detected helium escaping from the upper atmosphere of HAT-P-11b, a Neptune-mass exoplanet located in the constellation...

The current, widely recognized model of the Universe, called LambdaCDM, tells us nothing about what dark matter and dark energy are like physically. We only know about them because of the gravitational effects they have on other, observable matter. Dr. Farnes’ model offers a new explanation. Image credit: NASA / ESA / M. Livio / Hubble 20th Anniversary Team, STScI.

Negative-Mass Dark Fluid: Astonishing New Theory Could Explain Universe’s Missing 95%

Dec 5, 2018 by News Staff

The standard cosmological model known as LambdaCDM can only explain 5% of the observable Universe. The remaining 95% is famously made up almost entirely...

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