Astronomy News

First Detection of Orbital Motion in Supermassive Black Hole Binary

This artist’s conception shows two supermassive black holes, similar to those observed by Bansal et al, orbiting one another more than 750 million light years from Earth. Image credit: Josh Valenzuela, University of New Mexico.
Jun 29, 2017 by News Staff

For the first time ever, astronomers have been able to observe and measure the orbital motion between two supermassive black holes — a discovery more than a decade in the making. A paper reporting this discovery is published in the Astrophysical Journal. This artist’s conception shows two supermassive black holes, similar to those observed by Bansal et al, orbiting one another more than 750 million light years from Earth. Image credit: Josh...

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The protostar FIR 3 with outflow that may have triggered the formation of the younger protostar FIR 4. Pullouts are individual VLA images of each protostar. Image credit: Osorio et al / NRAO / AUI / NSF.

Protostar May Have Triggered Formation of Another, Younger Star

Jun 28, 2017 by News Staff

Astronomers using NSF’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) have found new evidence suggesting that a jet of fast-moving material ejected from an intermediate-mass...

This image from ALMA shows the M2 spectral-type supergiant star Betelgeuse. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / E. O’Gorman / P. Kervella.

ALMA Analyzes Atmosphere of Supergiant Star Betelgeuse

Jun 28, 2017 by Sergio Prostak

Astronomers have used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to observe the nearby supergiant star Betelgeuse. Beyond just delivering...

This image shows the galaxy 2XMM J143450.5+033843, which lies in the constellation Virgo, some 400 million light-years away. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Sees Distant Seyfert Galaxy

Jun 26, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA has released a beautiful photo taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of 2XMM J143450.5+033843, a galaxy that lurks within the Virgo constellation...

A view of the limb of the Sun. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.

Researchers Uncover Origins of Solar Spicules

Jun 26, 2017 by News Staff

A team of solar physicists from the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute, University of Oslo and Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory...

This artist’s concept shows what the young, ‘dead,’ disk galaxy MACS 2129-1 (right) would look like when compared with our Milky Way Galaxy (left). Although three times as massive as the Milky Way, it is only half the size. MACS 2129-1 is also spinning more than twice as fast as the Milky Way. Note that regions of the Milky Way are blue from bursts of star formation, while MACS 2129-1 is yellow, signifying an older star population and no new star birth. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Z. Levy, STScI.

Hubble Spots Massive, ‘Dead’ Disk Galaxy in Early Universe

Jun 23, 2017 by News Staff

Using a powerful astronomical technique called gravitational lensing, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope made a stunning discovery — the first example...

A planetary mass object the size of Mars would be sufficient to produce the observed perturbations in the distant Kuiper Belt. Image credit: Heather Roper / Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona.

Mars-to-Earth-Mass Planet May Lurk in Outer Solar System: Planet 10

Jun 22, 2017 by News Staff

An unknown Mars-to-Earth-mass planet may lurk in the outer reaches of the Solar System, according to new research on the orbits of minor planets to be...

The Milky Way Galaxy has a strong preference for two types of planets: rocky planets up to 1.75 times the size of Earth, and gas-enshrouded mini-Neptunes, which are from 2 to 3.5 times the size of Earth. Our Galaxy rarely makes planets with sizes in between these two groups. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Small Exoplanets Come in Two Sizes: Rocky ‘Earths’ and Mini-Neptunes

Jun 20, 2017 by News Staff

Astronomers have classified extrasolar planets in the same way that biologists identify new species and have learned that the majority of planets found...

This is an artist's impression of an exoplanet. Image credit: Ron Miller.

Kepler Team Releases New Catalog of Exoplanet Candidates

Jun 20, 2017 by News Staff

A team of astronomers from NASA’s exoplanet-hunting Kepler mission has released a new catalog of transiting planet candidates. This is an artist’s...

This artist’s impression shows the dust and gas around a binary star system. Image credit: ESO / L. Calcada.

Low-Mass Stars are Born in Pairs, Astronomers Claim

Jun 19, 2017 by News Staff

According to a team of astronomers from Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley, low-mass stars are always born with a companion,...

This image, taken with Hubble’s WFC3 instrument, shows the spiral galaxy LEDA 16643. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Captures Stunning Image of LEDA 16643

Jun 19, 2017 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a picture of the galaxy LEDA 16643, which is found in the constellation Lepus. This image, taken with Hubble’s...

A ribbon of ammonia -- a tracer of star-forming gas -- in the Orion Molecular Cloud as seen with the GBT (orange); background in blue is an infrared image from NASA’s WISE telescope showing the dust in the region. Image credit: R. Friesen, Dunlap Institute / J. Pineda, MPIP / GBO / AUI / NSF / NASA.

Astronomers Spot Vast Filament of Star-Forming Gas in Orion Molecular Cloud

Jun 16, 2017 by News Staff

Dr. Rachel Friesen of the University of Toronto and colleagues have captured a detailed image of a 50-light-year-long filament of star-forming gas in the...

Artist illustration of the thick ring of dust that can obscure the energetic processes that occur near the supermassive black hole of an active galactic nucleus. Image credit: NASA / SOFIA / Lynette Cook.

NASA’s SOFIA Observatory Spots Compact Tori of Dust around Active Supermassive Black Holes

Jun 14, 2017 by News Staff

Using observations from NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a Boeing 747SP jetliner modified to carry a 100-inch telescope,...

This trio of nebulae -- the Omega Nebula (left), the Eagle Nebula (center), and Sharpless 2-54 (right) -- makes up just a portion of a vast complex of gas and dust within which new stars are springing to life and illuminating their surroundings. Image credit: ESO.

ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope Captures Three Nebulae in One Image

Jun 14, 2017 by News Staff

Two spectacular and famous nebulae — the Eagle Nebula and the Omega Nebula — share the stage with their lesser-known neighbor, a glowing cloud...

The giant elliptical galaxy in the center of this Hubble image is the most massive and brightest member of the galaxy cluster Abell 2261. Spanning a little more than one million light-years, the galaxy is about 10 times the diameter of the Milky Way Galaxy. Abell 2261 is located approximately 3 billion light-years away. Image credit: NASA / ESA / M. Postman, STScI / T. Lauer, NOAO / CLASH Team.

Brightest Cluster Galaxy Alignments Traced Back 10 Billion Years

Jun 13, 2017 by News Staff

A new study based on observations with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has shown that so-called brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) — the very...

Artist’s impression of Orion KL Source I. The massive protostar is surrounded by a disk of gas and dust. The outflow is launched from the surface of the outer disk. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO.

ALMA Observes Massive Protostar in Kleinmann-Low Nebula

Jun 12, 2017 by News Staff

A team of astronomers has determined how the gas flow from a massive infant star is launched. The researchers used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter...

The white dwarf star Stein 2051B (center) is 17 light-years away and the background star is 5,000 light-years away. Image credit: NASA / ESA / K. Sahu, STScI.

Stein 2051B Shows How Gravity Can Bend Starlight

Jun 12, 2017 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observed the nearby white dwarf star Stein 2051B as it passed in front of a background star. During the close alignment,...

This illustration shows one possible scenario for the super-Earth HD 3167d. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

HD 3167d: New Super-Earth Discovered around Nearby Star

Jun 11, 2017 by Natali Anderson

Dr. Jessie Christiansen, a staff scientist at the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, and colleagues have discovered a ‘super-Earth’ exoplanet orbiting...

This image portrays a simulation of the Universe. Each of the tiniest of the dots denotes an entire galaxy. Matter in the Universe is arrayed on a series of filaments that surround vast voids. Image credit: Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics.

Milky Way Galaxy Resides in Enormous Cosmic Void

Jun 9, 2017 by News Staff

A new study by the University of Wisconsin-Madison supports the idea that our Milky Way Galaxy and its neighbors exist in one of the holes, or voids, of...

This artist’s impression displays TRAPPIST-1 and its planets reflected in a surface. Image credit: NASA / R. Hurt / T. Pyle.

Scientists Identify Possible Compositions of Seven TRAPPIST-1 Exoplanets

Jun 9, 2017 by News Staff

Using numerical simulations to identify planets stable for millions of years, a team of researchers concluded that six of the seven roughly Earth-sized...

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