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This full-disc image of Jupiter was taken on 21 April 2014 with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3. Image credit: NASA / ESA / A. Simon, Goddard Space Flight Center.

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is Shrinking, Astronomers Say

May 16, 2014 by News Staff

The Great Red Spot on Jupiter is shrinking, says a team of astronomers led by Dr Amy Simon of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. This...

This is an artist's impression of GU Psc b and GU Psc. Image credit: Lucas Granito.

GU Psc b: Newly Discovered Exoplanet Takes 80,000 Years to Orbit its Star

May 14, 2014 by News Staff

A newly discovered extrasolar planet takes about 80,000 years to make a complete orbit around its star, GU Psc. This composite image shows the exoplanet...

HD 162826: Astronomers Discover Second Sun

May 12, 2014 by News Staff

Astronomers from the United States, Russia and Australia have discovered the first true solar sibling – HD 162826. HD 162826. Image credit: sky-map.org. HD...

Astronomers Find Nearest Bright Hypervelocity Star

May 9, 2014 by News Staff

Astronomers from the United States and China have discovered a hypervelocity star (HVS) that is the closest bright HVS and one of the three most massive...

Large scale projection through the Illustris volume at z=0, centered on the most massive cluster, 15 Mpc/h deep. Image credit: Illustris Collaboration.

First Realistic Virtual Universe Created

May 8, 2014 by News Staff

Astronomers led Dr Mark Vogelsberger of MIT/Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have created the first realistic virtual Universe using a computer...

Magnetic field of Milky Way Galaxy as seen by ESA's Planck Space Telescope. Image credit: ESA / Planck Collaboration.

Milky Way’s Magnetic Fingerprint Revealed

May 7, 2014 by News Staff

Astronomers using data from ESA’s Planck Space Telescope have created a map of the entire sky that charts the magnetic field shaping our Milky Way...

HVGC-1: Astronomers Discover Hypervelocity Star Cluster

May 1, 2014 by News Staff

A team of astronomers led by Dr Nelson Caldwell from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics has discovered a globular star cluster thrown out...

This is an artist's impression of the young exoplanet Beta Pictoris b and its parent star. Image credit: ESO / L. Calçada / N. Risinger, skysurvey.org.

Beta Pictoris b: Scientists Measure Spin Rate of Exoplanet for First Time

Apr 30, 2014 by News Staff

Beta Pictoris b, a very young gas giant that orbits the star Beta Pictoris just 63 light-years away in the southern constellation of Pictor, has been found...

This image, with taken with the Palomar Cosmic Web Imager, shows the quasar QSO 1549+19; blue shows hydrogen gas surrounding and inflowing to the quasar. Image credit: Christopher Martin / Robert Hurt.

Astronomers Directly Observe Intergalactic Medium

Apr 30, 2014 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers using the Palomar Cosmic Web Imager has captured stunning images of the intergalactic medium – the diffuse gas...

This artist's impression shows the brown dwarf WISE 0855-0714. The color of the brown dwarf in this image is arbitrary; it would have different colors when viewed in different wavelength ranges. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Penn State University.

WISE 0855-0714: Astronomer Discovers Fourth-Closest Star System

Apr 28, 2014 by News Staff

U.S. astronomer using NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer and Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered WISE J085510.83-071442.5 (WISE 0855-0714...

This is an artist's impression of a debris disk around HD 141943. Image credit: NASA / ESA / R. Soummer, Ann Feild, STScI.

Hubble Discovers Five Debris Disks around Young Stars

Apr 25, 2014 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have discovered five planetary disks around young stars. This image shows a debris disk around HD...

This image, taken with the Canada-France-Hawaii-Telescope, shows the field before the supernova PS1-10afx. Image credit: Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe / CFHT. The right inset shows PS1-10afx. Image credit: R. Chornock et al.

Astronomers Solve Mystery of Superluminous Supernova PS1-10afx

Apr 25, 2014 by News Staff

PS1-10afx, an unusually bright supernova that was discovered in 2010 using the Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System, is so luminous because...

This artist's impression shows a binary supermassive black hole system in the galaxy SDSS J120136.02+300305.5. Image credit: ESA / C. Carreau.

Binary Supermassive Black Hole System Discovered

Apr 24, 2014 by News Staff

Astronomers using ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray observatory have discovered, for the first time, a pair of supermassive black holes in orbit around one...

A collage of face-on, upper panel, and edge-on galaxy images from the SDSS sample. In both panels, from bottom to top galaxies increase in stellar mass. From left to right galaxies increase in bulge-to-total stellar mass ratio. Image credit: Asa Frederick Bluck.

Astronomers Discover Relationship between Color of Galaxy, Size of its Bulge

Apr 22, 2014 by News Staff

The more massive the bulge of a galaxy, the redder the galaxy, says a team of astronomers reporting in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical...

This artistic concept shows Kepler-186f. Image credit: NASA Ames / SETI Institute / JPL-CalTech.

Kepler-186f: Potentially Habitable Earth-like Exoplanet Found

Apr 18, 2014 by News Staff

A large team of astronomers has announced the discovery of an Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting within the habitable zone of Kepler-186. This artistic concept...

This new image from the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-m telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile shows the star formation region Gum 41. Image credit: ESO.

Astronomers Capture New Image of Nebula Gum 41

Apr 16, 2014 by News Staff

Astronomers using the MPG/ESO 2.2-m telescope at the La Silla Observatory, Chile, have captured a new image of the little-known nebula Gum 41. This new...

Using a technique called microlensing, astronomers discovered what could be either a moon and a planet - or a planet and a star. This artist's conception depicts the planet-moon scenario. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Astronomers Discover First Exomoon Candidate

Apr 11, 2014 by News Staff

Astronomers using telescopes in New Zealand and Tasmania say they have observed an extrasolar moon candidate orbiting an object called MOA-2011-BLG-262. Using...

This image show member stars of the ultra-faint dwarf galaxy Segue-1. Image credit: Marla Geha.

Segue-1 May be One of First Galaxies Ever Formed in Universe, Say Astronomers

Apr 10, 2014 by News Staff

According to astronomers led by Dr Anna Frebel from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an ultra-faint dwarf galaxy called Segue-1 may be one of first...

This image shows the planetary nebula Abell 33. Image credit: ESO.

Astronomers Zoom in on Planetary Nebula Abell 33

Apr 9, 2014 by News Staff

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope have captured a beautiful new image of the planetary nebula Abell 33. This image shows the planetary nebula...