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New ALMA data reveal a diffuse envelope of carbon monoxide gas (shown in red), which surrounds regions of active star formation (yellow); by dissecting these regions with this powerful radio telescope, astronomers are uncovering clues to the processes and conditions that drive furious star formation; the ALMA data are superimposed on a Hubble image. Image credit: B. Saxton / NRAO / AUI / NSF / ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / A. Leroy / STScI / NASA / ST-ECF / ESA / CADC / NRC / CSA.

Astronomers Peer into Heart of Nearby Starburst Galaxy NGC 253

Feb 16, 2015 by News Staff

To understand why some galaxies burst while others do not, Dr David Meier of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory and the New Mexico Institute of Mining...

A supermassive black hole digesting the remnants of a star. Image credit: NASA.

Interstellar Science Team Provides New Insights into Rapidly Spinning Black Holes

Feb 14, 2015 by News Staff

In a new paper published in the journal Classical and Quantum Gravity, the team responsible for the visual effects at the center of Christopher Nolan’s...

Kepler-432b: Astronomers Discover New Super-Jupiter Exoplanet

Feb 12, 2015 by News Staff

Using data from NASA’s Kepler mission, two teams of astronomers, led by Mauricio Ortiz from the University of Heidelberg and Simona Ciceri of the...

Barnard 5 seen within its neighborhood, embedded in dust (blue) as seen with ESA’s Herschel Space Observatory, in infrared light. Image credit: Bill Saxton / NRAO / AUI / NSF.

Astronomers Observe Birth of Quadruple Star System in Molecular Cloud Barnard 5

Feb 12, 2015 by News Staff

For the first time, astronomers have caught a multiple-star system in the beginning stages of its formation. Barnard 5 seen within its neighborhood, embedded...

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope Captures Smiling Galaxy Cluster

Feb 11, 2015 by News Staff

An unusual galaxy cluster called SDSS J1038+4849 appears to smile at us in a newly-released image from Hubble’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2). This...

Artist’s impression of the planetary nebula Henize 2-428; the size of the central stars has been exaggerated to better illustrate their appearance. Image credit: Gabriel Perez / SMM / IAC.

Astronomers Discover Close Pair of White Dwarfs in Center of Planetary Nebula Henize 2-428

Feb 10, 2015 by News Staff

At the heart of the unusual planetary nebula Henize 2-428, a group of astronomers led by Dr Miguel Santander-Garcia from the Observatorio Astronomico Nacional...

This image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows the spiral galaxy NGC 7814. Image credit: ESA / Hubble / NASA.

Hubble Snaps Image of Spiral Galaxy NGC 7814 (Little Sombrero)

Feb 9, 2015 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have obtained a new image of the edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 7814. This image from the Hubble Space Telescope...

Fractal. Image credit: G. Stolyarov / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Scientists Find Fractal Patterns in Variable Stars

Feb 9, 2015 by News Staff

A team of researchers led by Dr John Lindner from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and the College of Wooster, Ohio, has found evidence for fractal...

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

Billions of Earth-Like Exoplanets Exist in Our Milky Way Galaxy, Say Scientists

Feb 6, 2015 by News Staff

A group of researchers from Australia and Denmark led by Dr Charley Lineweaver of the Australian National University has calculated that there are hundreds...

Zoom on the CMB polarization, filtered to show mostly the signal detected on scales around 5 degrees on the sky. Image credit: ESA / Planck Collaboration.

Universe’s First Stars Appeared 100 Million Years Later than Thought

Feb 6, 2015 by News Staff

Thanks to new data from European Space Agency’s Planck space telescope, researchers have found that the reionization – one of the most important...

The Hubble image on the left (unlabeled at top left, labeled at bottom left) shows the beginning of the event, which took place on January 24, 2015. From left to right the moons Callisto and Io are above Jupiter's cloud tops. The shadows from Europa (not seen in the image), Callisto, and Io are strung out from left to right. Near the end of the event, approximately 42 minutes later (right-side image), Europa has entered the frame at lower left. Slower-moving Callisto is above and to the right of Europa. Fastest-moving Io is approaching the eastern limb of the planet; its shadow is no longer visible on Jupiter. Europa's shadow is toward the left side of the image, and Callisto's shadow to the right. Missing from the sequence is the moon Ganymede, which was outside Hubble's field of view and too far from Jupiter in angular separation to be considered part of the conjunction. The moons in these photos have distinctive colors. The ancient, cratered surface of Callisto is brownish; the smooth icy surface of Europa is yellow-white; and the volcanic, sulfur-dioxide surface of Io is orange. The apparent fuzziness of some of the shadows depends on the moons' distances from Jupiter. The farther away a moon is from the planet, the softer the shadow, because the shadow is more spread out across the disk. The images were taken with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 in visible light. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA.

Hubble Sees Triple Transit of Galilean Moons

Feb 6, 2015 by News Staff

The Wide Field Camera 3 on NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has captured a rare look at three of Galilean moons – Io, Callisto, and Europa –...

This image shows the famous Trifid Nebula to the right of center; it appears as faint and ghostly at these infrared wavelengths when compared to the familiar view at visible wavelengths; this transparency has brought its own benefits - many previously hidden background objects can now be seen clearly; among these are two newly discovered Cepheid variable stars, the first ever spotted on the far side of our Milky Way Galaxy near its central plane. Image credit: ESO / VVV consortium / D. Minniti.

Astronomers Zoom in on Trifid Nebula, Discover Two Distant Cepheids

Feb 4, 2015 by News Staff

A team of astronomers led by Dr István Dékány from Millennium Institute of Astrophysics and the Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile, has...

This image shows the peculiar galaxy Arp 230. Image credit: ESA / Hubble / NASA.

Hubble Space Telescope Captures Galaxy Arp 230

Feb 4, 2015 by News Staff

A new image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope shows Arp 230, a peculiar galaxy located at a distance of about 80 million light-years. This image shows...

This image combines X-ray data collected by XMM-Newton telescope (blue) with optical observations from Hubble (green and red). Image credit: ESA / XMM-Newton / Y.-H. Chu / R.A. Gruendl / M.A. Guerrero / N. Ruiz / NASA / Hubble team / A. Hajian / B. Balick.

Astronomers Release New Image of Planetary Nebula NGC 3242 (Jupiter’s Ghost)

Feb 3, 2015 by News Staff

Using two orbiting space telescopes, astronomers have captured a striking new image of the nebula NGC 3242. This image combines X-ray data collected by...

3D reconstruction of SNR Cassiopeia A provides the first detailed look at the distribution of stellar debris following a supernova explosion; the blue-to-red colors correspond to the varying speed of the emitting gas along our line of sight; the background is a Hubble composite image of the remnant. Image credit: Dan Milisavljevic / Robert Fesen / NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team.

Cassiopeia A: Astronomers Create 3D Map of Supernova Remnant’s Interior

Jan 30, 2015 by News Staff

Astronomers Dr Dan Milisavljevic of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Dr Robert Fesen of Dartmouth College have generated a three-dimensional...

This image, taken with the Wide Field Camera 3 and the Advanced Camera for Surveys on Hubble, reveals the correlation of the gas clouds and stars in NGC 7714. The picture not only reveals the intricate structure of the galaxy, but also shows many other objects that are much further away. Image credit: NASA / ESA / A. Gal-Yam, Weizmann Institute of Science.

NASA’s Hubble Sees Starburst Galaxy NGC 7714

Jan 30, 2015 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have obtained a remarkable new view of the galaxy NGC 7714. This image, taken with the Wide Field Camera...

The center of the galaxy Messier 82 at very long radio wavelengths; the bright points are most likely supernova remnants; the image is about 3,300 light years across. Image credit: E. Varenius / Onsala Space Observatory / LOFAR Collaboration.

LOFAR Radio Telescope Observes Messier 82 (Cigar Galaxy)

Jan 29, 2015 by News Staff

The Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) radio telescope has been used to observe the glowing center of the starburst galaxy Messier 82 at very long radio wavelengths. The...

Terrestrial exoplanet and its moons. Image credit: Luciano Mendez / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Extrasolar Gas Giants Can Become Potentially Habitable Super-Earths, Say Scientists

Jan 29, 2015 by News Staff

Two phenomena known to inhibit the potential habitability of planets – tidal forces and vigorous stellar activity – could combine to transform...

This image shows the cometary globule CG4; although it looks huge and bright in this image it is actually a faint nebula and not easy to observe; the exact nature of CG4 remains a mystery. Image credit: ESO.

God’s Hand: Astronomers Capture Cometary Globule CG4

Jan 28, 2015 by News Staff

A stunning new image of the cometary globule CG4 has been obtained by a group of astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope. This image shows the cometary...