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Artist’s conception of a binary system with a brown dwarf and a giant planet. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

HD 87646: Astronomers Discover Bizarre ‘Binary-Binary’ System

Oct 24, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of scientists led by University of Florida astronomer Dr. Bo Ma has discovered the first ‘binary-binary’ system — two massive companions...

This HI4PI map was produced using data from the 100-m Max-Planck radio telescope in Effelsberg, Germany and the 64-m CSIRO radio telescope in Parkes, Australia. The image colors reflect gas at differing velocities. The plane of the Milky Way Galaxy runs horizontally across the middle of the image. The Magellanic Clouds can be seen at the lower right. Image credit: Benjamin Winkel / HI4PI Collaboration.

Astronomers Create Detailed Hydrogen Map of Milky Way Galaxy

Oct 20, 2016 by News Staff

Using data from the 64-m CSIRO radio telescope in Australia and the 100-m Max-Planck radio telescope in Germany, an international team of astronomers has...

This mosaic shows the Carina Nebula (left part of the image), home of the Eta Carinae stellar system. This part was observed with the MPG/ESO 2.2-m telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory. The middle part shows the direct surrounding of the star system: the Homunculus Nebula, created by the ejected material from the Eta Carinae system. This image was taken with ESO’s Very Large Telescope. The right image shows the innermost part of the system as seen with ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer/ It is the highest resolution image of Eta Carinae ever. Image credit: Gerd Weigelt / ESO.

Eta Carinae Imaged in Sharpest Detail Ever

Oct 19, 2016 by News Staff

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) in Chile have snapped the most detailed image ever of the Eta Carinae stellar system. This...

This image, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows the open star cluster NGC 299. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Views Young Star Cluster in Small Magellanic Cloud

Oct 17, 2016 by Natali Anderson

The subject of this new Hubble image is NGC 299, an open star cluster located 200,000 light-years away in the southern constellation of Tucana. This image,...

This composite image shows a beautiful new look at the compact group of galaxies known as Stephan’s Quintet. Image credit: X-ray – NASA / CXC / CfA / E. O’Sullivan; optical - Canada-France-Hawaii-Telescope / Coelum.

Universe Contains at least Two Trillion Galaxies, Astronomers Say

Oct 13, 2016 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers led by University of Nottingham scientist Christopher Conselice has performed an accurate census of the number of...

Astrophysicists Create Largest Ever Map of Cosmic Superstructures

Oct 13, 2016 by News Staff

Astrophysicists from the Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation at the University of Portsmouth, UK, have produced the largest ever map of cosmic superstructures...

Proxima Centauri. Image credit: Hubble / ESA / NASA.

Astronomers Find Evidence for 7-Year Stellar Cycle in Proxima Centauri

Oct 12, 2016 by Natali Anderson

The Sun’s nearest stellar neighbor, Proxima Centauri, has a regular cycle of starspots, according to a team of astronomers from the Harvard-Smithsonian...

This image from ESO’s VISTA telescope shows the central part of the Milky Way. While normally hidden behind obscuring dust, the infrared capabilities of the telescope allow astronomers to study stars close to the Galactic center. Within this field of view astronomers detected several RR Lyrae stars. Image credit: ESO / VVV Survey / D. Minniti et al.

VISTA Spots Ancient Stars near Milky Way Center

Oct 12, 2016 by News Staff

Astronomers using ESO’s VISTA infrared survey telescope have discovered a dozen ancient stars, of a type known as RR Lyrae, in the vicinity of the center...

This image shows the spiral galaxy NGC 278, which lies in the northern constellation Cassiopeia, about 41.7 million light-years away. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / S. Smartt, Queen's University Belfast.

Hubble Space Telescope Captures Image of NGC 278

Oct 10, 2016 by News Staff

This new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows a spiral galaxy known as NGC 278. This image shows the spiral galaxy NGC 278, which lies in the northern...

V Hydrae. Image credit: NASA / ESA / A. Field, STScI.

Astronomers Detect Giant Balls of Plasma Shooting from Binary Star System

Oct 7, 2016 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have detected blobs of plasma being ejected near a dying red giant star called V Hydrae. This image...

This Hubble image shows the lenticular galaxy GJ1417+52. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Astronomers Find Wandering Black Hole in Galaxy 4.5 Billion Light-Years Away

Oct 7, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A rogue black hole has been found in the outer regions of the lenticular galaxy SDSS J141711.07+522540.8 (GJ1417+52 for short). Evidence suggests this...

Planets form from epic collisions between asteroids and even bigger bodies, called protoplanets. Sometimes the colliding bodies are ground to dust, and sometimes they stick together to ultimately form larger, mature planets. This artist’s conception shows one such smash-up. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Mystery of KIC 8462852 Deepens

Oct 5, 2016 by News Staff

Planets form from epic collisions between asteroids and even bigger bodies, called protoplanets. Sometimes the colliding bodies are ground to dust, and...

This image of Messier 78 was captured using the VISTA telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory. In the image, Messier 78 is the bluish haze in the center, the other reflection nebula towards the right goes by the name of NGC 2071. Image credit: ESO.

ESO’s VISTA Telescope Sees Hidden Stars in Messier 78

Oct 5, 2016 by News Staff

This detailed view of the reflection nebula Messier 78 was taken with the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) at ESO’s Paranal...

This Hubble image shows the central region of the dwarf spiral galaxy NGC 247, which lies in the constellation Cetus, about 11.5 million light-years away. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

New Hubble Photo Shows Center of Spiral Galaxy NGC 247

Oct 3, 2016 by News Staff

This image snapped by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reveals a detailed view of the central part of the disc of NGC 247, a relatively small spiral...

ALMA peered into the Ophiuchus star-forming region to study the protoplanetary disk around Elias 2-27. Image credit: L. Pérez / B. Saxton / MPIfR / NRAO / AUI / NSF / ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NASA / JPL Caltech / WISE Team.

ALMA Spots Spiral-Armed Protoplanetary Disk around Young Stellar Object

Oct 1, 2016 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array have detected a pair of trailing symmetric spiral arms in the protoplanetary disk surrounding...

LMC P3 (circled) is located in the supernova remnant DEM L241 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Record-Breaking Gamma-Ray Binary Spotted in Large Magellanic Cloud

Sep 30, 2016 by News Staff

A gamma-ray binary discovered in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy approximately 163,000 light-years away, is the first object of its kind ever...

This figure shows observations of the first hot molecular core to be found outside the Milky Way Galaxy with ALMA and a view of the region of sky in infrared light. Left: distributions of molecular line emission from a hot molecular core in the LMC observed with ALMA. Emissions from dust, sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitric oxide (NO), and formaldehyde (H2CO) are shown as examples. Right: an infrared image of the surrounding star-forming region (based on data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope). Image credit: T. Shimonishi / Tohoku University / ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO.

First ‘Hot Molecular Core’ Discovered Outside Milky Way

Sep 29, 2016 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have discovered the first ‘hot molecular core’ — a cocoon of complex...

The surface of Europa looms large in this newly-reprocessed color view; image scale is 1.6 km per pixel; north on Europa is at right. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SETI Institute.

Hubble Space Telescope Directly Images Possible Water Plumes on Europa

Sep 26, 2016 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has imaged what may be water vapor plumes erupting off the surface of Europa, the sixth-closest moon of Jupiter and...

This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the spiral galaxy NGC 24. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Space Telescope Observes NGC 24

Sep 26, 2016 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a picture of the spiral galaxy NGC 24, which is found in the constellation of Sculptor. This image from the...