Astronomy News | Sci.News

This image is a snapshot from a 16-minute time-lapse movie showing the formation and collapse of a complexly shaped plasma stream traveling at almost 100 km per seconds in front of a coronal loop system. This is likely the first time such a stream, which the scientists refer to as plasmoid, has been observed, leaving them wondering about the physical explanation of the observed dynamics. This image was taken by the Goode Solar Telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory using the new coronal adaptive optics system Cona. The image shows the hydrogen-alpha light emitted by the solar plasma. The image is artificially colorized, yet based on the color of hydrogen-alpha light, and darker color is brighter light. Image credit: Schmidt et al. / NJIT / NSO / AURA / NSF.

Solar Astronomers Capture Most Detailed Images and Videos Yet of Sun’s Corona

May 27, 2025 by News Staff

To make these high-resolution images and movies, astronomers from NSF’s National Solar Observatory and New Jersey Institute of Technology developed a...

This Hubble image shows NGC 3507, a barred spiral galaxy located 46 million light-years away in the constellation of Leo. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / D. Thilker.

Hubble Spots Beautiful Spiral Galaxy: NGC 3507

May 26, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured a striking new photo of the face-on barred spiral galaxy NGC 3507. This Hubble image...

An AI impression of a compact binary system. Image credit: Gemini AI.

Newly-Discovered Compact Binary System Formed when Neutron Star Orbited inside Another Star

May 22, 2025 by News Staff

This binary system contains a rapidly spinning millisecond pulsar called PSR J1928+1815 and its helium star companion. An AI impression of a compact binary...

This artist’s impression shows a galactic merger in which the galaxy on the right hosts a quasar at its core; this quasar is powered by a supermassive black hole swallowing up material around it and emitting a powerful cone of radiation, piercing the other galaxy like a lance; as this radiation interacts with the galaxy on the left, it disrupts the clouds of gas and dust within, leaving behind only the smallest and densest regions; these regions are likely rendered incapable of star formation after the process. Image credit: ESO / M. Kornmesser.

Astronomers Witness Violent Collision of Two Galaxies 11 Billion Light-Years Away

May 21, 2025 by News Staff

Intense radiation from a quasar in one of these galaxies alters the gas properties in the other galaxy and dampens its ability to form new stars, according...

This Hubble image shows NGC 3511, an intermediate spiral galaxy some 43 million light-years away in the constellation of Crater. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / D. Thilker.

Hubble Space Telescope Provides New View of NGC 3511

May 19, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

The Hubble team has produced a spectacular new image of the intermediate spiral galaxy NGC 3511. This Hubble image shows NGC 3511, an intermediate spiral...

An artist’s illustration of a solar storm. Image credit: NASA.

Radiocarbon Spike 14,350 Years Ago was Caused by Strongest Known Solar Storm, Study Confirms

May 15, 2025 by News Staff

The Sun rarely produced extreme solar particle events, orders of magnitude stronger than everything directly observed. Their enormous power can greatly...

An artist’s impression of a debris disk around the Sun-like star HD 181327. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / Ralf Crawford, STScI.

Webb Detects Crystalline Water Ice in Debris Disk around Young, Sun-Like Star

May 14, 2025 by News Staff

Water ice heavily influences the formation of giant planets and may also be delivered by comets to fully formed rocky planets. Using data from the Near-Infrared...

These images of Titan, taken by Webb on July 11, 2023 (top row), and the Keck II telescope on July 14, 2023 (bottom row), show methane clouds (white arrows) appearing at different altitudes in Titan’s northern hemisphere. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / Keck Observatory.

Weather Report from Saturn’s Moon Titan: Partly Cloudy with Occasional Methane Showers

May 14, 2025 by NASA

Using data from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope and the Keck II telescope, astronomers found evidence of cloud convection in the northern hemisphere...

These observations of Jupiter’s aurorae were captured with Webb’s Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam) on December 25, 2023. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / Ricardo Hueso, UPV / Imke de Pater, UC Berkeley / Thierry Fouchet, Observatory of Paris / Leigh Fletcher, University of Leicester / Michael H. Wong, UC Berkeley / Joseph DePasquale, STScI / J. Nichols, University of Leicester / M. Zamani, ESA & Webb.

Webb Observes Dynamic Infrared Aurorae on Jupiter

May 13, 2025 by News Staff

The Jovian aurorae are hundreds of times brighter than those seen on Earth, says a team of astronomers by University of Leicester’s Dr. Jonathan Nichols. These...

An artist’s impression of a neutron star that is ‘evaporating’ slowly via Hawking-like radiation. Image credit: Daniëlle Futselaar / Artsource.nl.

Objects in Our Universe Evaporate Faster than Thought, Scientists Say

May 12, 2025 by News Staff

In a 2023 paper, Professor Heino Falcke and his colleagues at Radboud University showed that not only black holes, but also all other objects in the Universe...

This Hubble image shows a portion of a colorful nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy located 160,000 light-years away from Earth in the constellations of Dorado and Mensa. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / C. Murray.

Hubble Captures Colorful Nebula in Large Magellanic Cloud

May 12, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have taken a stunning image of a spectacular part of a nebula located in the Large Magellanic Cloud,...

The tidal disruption event AT2024tvd. Image credit: NASA / CXC / University of California, Berkeley / Yao et al. / ESA / STScI / HST / J. DePasquale.

Wandering Supermassive Black Hole Discovered 600 Million Light-Years Away

May 8, 2025 by News Staff

This supermassive black hole was discovered thanks to the newly-identified tidal disruption event AT2024tvd, an astronomical phenomenon in which a star...

An artist’s impression of a magnetar. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / S. Wiessinger.

Magnetar Flares May Be Responsible for Creation and Distribution of Gold and Other Heavy Elements

May 7, 2025 by News Staff

Since the Big Bang, the early Universe had hydrogen, helium, and a scant amount of lithium. Later, some heavier elements, including iron, were forged in...

This artist’s concept depicts the central region of the blazar BL Lacertae, a supermassive black hole surrounded by a bright disk and a jet oriented toward Earth. Image credit: NASA / Pablo Garcia.

Interactions between Fast-Moving Electrons and Photons Lead to X-ray Emission from Blazar Jets

May 7, 2025 by News Staff

In new research, astronomers used NASA’s IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) to observe a highly relativistic jet emanating from the blazar BL...

Ammonia gas infalling into an accretion disk feeding the protostar HW2. Image credit: NSF / AUI / NSF / NRAO / B. Saxton.

New Observations Shed More Light on Formation of Massive Stars

May 6, 2025 by News Staff

Astronomers using NSF’s Very Large Array (VLA) have spotted the huge flow of gas near HW2 — a massive protostar located 2,283 light-years away...

This VST image shows Gum 80, a nebula located roughly 6,000 light-years away in the constellation of Serpens. Image credit: ESO / VPHAS+ Team.

VST Sees Impostor Supergiant Star in Gum 80

May 6, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the VLT Survey Telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile have captured a stunning new image of the nebula Gum 80. This VST image...

An artist’s impression of the sub-Neptune exoplanet TOI-421b. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Dani Player, STScI.

Webb Determines Atmospheric Makeup of Sub-Neptune TOI-421b

May 6, 2025 by News Staff

Sub-Neptunes are high-occurrence exoplanets that have no solar system analog. Much smaller than gas giants and typically cooler than hot-Jupiter exoplanets,...

An artist’s impression of a blazar. Image credit: DESY / Science Communication Lab.

Physicists Develop Novel Quantum Theory of Gravity

May 5, 2025 by News Staff

The new theory, developed by physicists at Aalto University, describes gravity in a way that’s compatible with the Standard Model of particle physics,...

This Hubble image shows NGC 3596, an intermediate spiral galaxy some 90 million light-years away in the constellation of Leo. The color image is made up of observations from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 WFC3) in the ultraviolet, near-infrared, and optical parts of the spectrum. 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 Looks at Face-On Intermediate Spiral Galaxy

May 5, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

A beautiful new photo from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the spiral galaxy NGC 3596. This Hubble image shows NGC 3596, an intermediate spiral...