Astronomy News

New Research Doubles Number of Known Dark Comets

This artist’s impression shows ‘Oumuamua, the first interstellar object discovered in our Solar System. Recent observations show that the object is moving faster than predicted while leaving the Solar System. Astronomers assume that venting material from its surface due to solar heating is responsible for this behavior. This outgassing can be seen in this artist’s impression as a subtle cloud being ejected from the side of the object facing the Sun. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / ESO / M. Kornmesser.
Dec 10, 2024 by News Staff

Dark comets are small bodies with no detected coma that have significant accelerations explainable by outgassing of volatiles, analogous to the first interstellar object 1I/2017 U1 ‘Oumuamua. These objects represent a potentially widespread class of small bodies that further populate the continuum between asteroids and comets and for which the active nature is inferred from their orbital motion. Michigan State University astronomer Darryl Seligman...

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From 2014 to 2024, Hubble has been studying Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune under the OPAL program. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / A. Simon, NASA-GSFC / M.H. Wong, UC Berkeley / J. DePasquale, STScI.

Hubble’s OPAL Program Celebrates Decade of Tracking Solar System’s Giant Planets

Dec 10, 2024 by News Staff

The OPAL (Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy) program obtains long-term baseline observations of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune in order to understand...

An artist’s illustration of Webb revealing, in the infrared, a population of main-belt decameter asteroids. Image credit: Ella Maru / Julien de Wit.

Webb Detects 138 Decameter Asteroids in Main Belt

Dec 9, 2024 by News Staff

These asteroids are as small as 10 m across, making them the smallest asteroids ever observed in the main asteroid belt. An artist’s illustration of...

This DECam image shows the spiral galaxy Messier 83. Image credit: CTIO / NOIRLab / DOE / NSF / AURA / T.A. Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage & NSF NOIRLab / D. de Martin, NSF NOIRLab / M. Zamani, NSF NOIRLab.

Dark Energy Camera Captures Stunning New Image of Messier 83

Dec 9, 2024 by News Staff

The swirling spiral arms of Messier 83, one of the most prominent spiral galaxies in the night sky, display a high rate of star formation and have been...

This composite image, taken by JAXA’s Akatsuki spacecraft, shows Venus. Image credit: JAXA / ISAS / DARTS / Damia Bouic.

Venus Has Never Been Habitable, New Study Suggests

Dec 9, 2024 by News Staff

Planetary researcher Tereza Constantinou and her colleagues at the University of Cambridge have examined the chemical composition of the Venusian atmosphere...

This Hubble image shows NGC 5643, a grand design spiral some 55 million light-years away in the constellation of Lupus. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / A. Riess / D. Thilker / D. De Martin, ESA & Hubble / M. Zamani, ESA & Hubble.

Hubble Space Telescope Revisits NGC 5643

Dec 9, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

The Hubble team has released a striking new image of the central part of NGC 5643, a grand design spiral galaxy in the constellation of Lupus. This Hubble...

This false-color four-image mosaic comprises images taken from a distance of 28.7 km from the center of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 3 February 2015. The mosaic measures 4.2 x 4.6 km. Image credit: ESA / Rosetta / NAVCAM / CC BY-SA IGO 3.0.

Study: Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko’s Water Has Similar Molecular Signature to Earth’s Water

Dec 4, 2024 by NASA

Contradicting the results of several recent studies, the new findings reopen the case that Jupiter-family comets like 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko could have...

Starspots on the surface of XX Trianguli. Image credit: HUN-REN RCAES / Zs. Kővári, MOME / Á. Radványi, AIP / K. Strassmeier.

Astronomers Observe Starspots on Surface of Giant Star

Dec 4, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

XX Trianguli, a bright K0-type giant star in a binary system located in the constellation of Triangulum, exhibits chaotic, non-periodic star spot behavior,...

This illustration depicts Kepler-51 and its three giant planets. Image credit: NASA / ESA / L. Hustak, J. Olmsted, D. Player & F. Summers, STScI.

Astronomers Discover Fourth Exoplanet in Kepler-51 System

Dec 3, 2024 by Natali Anderson

Kepler-51 is a 500-million-year-old G-type star hosting four low density planets, according to a new paper published in the Astronomical Journal. This...

Miles et al. created the most detailed maps of gravitational waves across the Universe to date. Image credit: Carl Knox / OzGrav / Swinburne University of Technology / South African Radio Astronomy Observatory.

Astronomers Create Most Detailed Map of Gravitational Wave Background to Date

Dec 3, 2024 by News Staff

Astronomers using the MeerKAT Pulsar Timing Array, an international experiment that uses the MeerKAT Radio Telescope in South Africa, have uncovered further...

An artist’s impression of primordial black holes. Image credit: NASA.

Astrophysicists to Search for Primordial Black Holes in Planets, Asteroids, and Materials on Earth

Dec 2, 2024 by News Staff

Primordial black holes have been theorized for decades and could even be ever-elusive dark matter. Still, no primordial black hole has ever been observed....

This Hubble image shows NGC 1637, an intermediate spiral galaxy located some 38 million light-years away in the constellation of Eridanus. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / D. Thilker.

Hubble Space Telescope Captures Lopsided Spiral Galaxy

Dec 2, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have delivered an unrivalled snapshot of the intermediate spiral galaxy NGC 1637. This Hubble image...

An artist’s concept of the ultrahot-Neptune exoplanet TOI-3261b. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / K. Miller, Caltech & IPAC.

Astronomers Discover Ultrahot Neptune around TOI-3261

Nov 28, 2024 by Natali Anderson

The newly-discovered exoplanet orbits TOI-3261 (also known as TIC 358070912), an inactive main-sequence star located 300 parsecs (978.5 light-years) away...

A false-color ultraviolet image of the entire planet, showing the hood or cap of hydrocarbon haze that covers the south pole; the edge of the north polar hood is visible at the top. Image credit: Troy Tsubota & Michael Wong, University of California, Berkeley.

Astronomers Observe Transient Ultraviolet-Dark Polar Ovals on Jupiter

Nov 27, 2024 by News Staff

These Earth-size ovals at Jupiter’s north and south poles are visible only at ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths, and appear and disappear seemingly at random,...

Images of 456P/PANSTARRS taken with the Magellan-Baade telescope in Chile on October 3, 2024, and the Lowell Discovery Telescope in Arizona on October 26, 2024, where the head, or nucleus, of the comet is at the center of each image, and the tail extends to the right. Image credit: Scott S. Sheppard / Carnegie Institution for Science / Audrey Thirouin, Lowell Observatory / Henry H. Hsieh, Planetary Science Institute.

Recently-Discovered Active Asteroid is in Fact Main-Belt Comet, Astronomers Say

Nov 26, 2024 by News Staff

456P/PANSTARRS, an active, main-belt asteroid first spotted in 2021, is recurrently active, and activity is likely driven by the sublimation of volatile...

This Webb image shows the Sombrero galaxy. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI.

Webb Captures New Image of Sombrero Galaxy

Nov 25, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

The sharp resolution of Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) brings into focus details of the Sombrero galaxy’s outer ring, providing insights into...

This Hubble image shows NGC 2090, a spiral galaxy some 40 million light-years away in the southern constellation of Columba. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). It is based on data obtained through six filters. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / D. Thilker.

Hubble Space Telescope Looks at Flocculent Spiral: NGC 2090

Nov 25, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured an amazing new photo of the spiral galaxy NGC 2090. This Hubble image shows NGC 2090,...

This image, taken by the GRAVITY instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer, shows the red supergiant WOH G64. Image credit: ESO / Ohnaka et al., doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202451820.

VLTI Captures Detailed Image of Red Supergiant in Large Magellanic Cloud

Nov 21, 2024 by News Staff

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) have captured a zoomed-in image of the dust-enshrouded red supergiant star WOH G64. This...

An artistic interpretation of the IRAS 04125+2902 system. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / R. Hurt & K. Miller, Caltech & IPAC.

Astronomers Discover Youngest Transiting Exoplanet

Nov 20, 2024 by News Staff

Astronomers have discovered a transiting exoplanet — named IRAS 04125+2902b — orbiting a 3-million-year-old, 0.7-solar-mass protostar in...

This artist’s impression shows the evolution of the Universe beginning with the Big Bang on the left followed by the appearance of the Cosmic Microwave Background. The formation of the first stars ends the cosmic dark ages, followed by the formation of galaxies. Image credit: M. Weiss / Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

New DESI Observations Line Up with What Theory of General Relativity Predicts

Nov 20, 2024 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), a state-of-the-art instrument mounted on NSF’s Nicholas U. Mayall 4-m telescope at...

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