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An artist’s impression of the super-Earth planet Ross 508b. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Astronomers Find New Way to Detect Water Oceans and Alien Life on Rocky Exoplanets

Dec 29, 2023 by News Staff

Planets too close to their star are too hot (such as Venus), those too far, are too cold (like Mars), whereas planets in the habitable zone are just right....

The Fermi team made an all-sky time-lapse movie using 14 years of data acquired by Fermi’s Large Area Telescope. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / DOE / LAT Collaboration.

Fermi Produces Unique Time-Lapse Tour of Gamma-Ray Sky

Dec 28, 2023 by News Staff

A new movie from NASA’s Fermi mission shows the intensity of gamma rays — the highest-energy form of light — with energies above 200 million...

An artist’s impression of the different layers inside a massive neutron star, with the red circle representing a sizable quark-matter core. Image credit: Jyrki Hokkanen, CSC.

Massive Neutron Stars Could Contain Cores Made of Deconfined Quark Matter

Dec 28, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Neutron-star cores contain matter at the highest densities in our Universe. This highly compressed matter may undergo a phase transition where nuclear...

An artist’s impression of the gas giant Kepler 1625b with its large moon, Kepler 1625b-i; the pair has a similar mass and radius ratio to the Earth-Moon system but scaled up by a factor of 11. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Kepler-1625b and Kepler-1708b are Unlikely to Be Orbited by Large Exomoons, Astronomers Say

Dec 27, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

There are more than 200 moons in our Solar System, but their relatively small sizes make similarly sized extrasolar moons (exomoons) very hard to detect...

This simulation illustrates a galaxy disk being disturbed, leading to the propagation of a seismic ripple throughout the disk. Image credit: Bland-Hawthorn & Tepper-Garcia, University of Sydney.

ALMA Detects Seismic Ripples in Disk of Ancient Barred Spiral Galaxy

Dec 26, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have observed a disk bending wave in BRI 1335-0417, the oldest known spiral galaxy...

This Hubble image shows four spiral galaxies in the constellation of Horologium: the large, prominent spiral galaxy on the right side of the image is NGC 1356; the two apparently smaller spiral galaxies flanking it are LEDA 467699 (above it) and LEDA 95415 (very close at its left) respectively; and finally, IC 1947 sits along the left side of the image. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / J. Dalcanton, Dark Energy Survey / DOE / FNAL / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / L. Shatz.

Hubble Spots Four Spiral Galaxies in Horologium

Dec 26, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

A stunning new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows a collection of galaxies — NGC 1356, LEDA 467699, LEDA 95415 and IC 1947 —...

These NIRCam/Webb images show the multiply-imaged supernova Encore in the distant galaxy MRG-M0138. Two images of Encore (circled) are seen here, but an additional supernova image is expected to become visible around 2035. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / Justin Pierel, STScI / Andrew Newman, Carnegie Institution for Science.

Webb Discovers Gravitationally-Lensed Supernova 10 Billion Light-Years from Earth

Dec 22, 2023 by News Staff

A Type Ia supernova named Encore is the second multiply-imaged supernova detected in MRG-M0138, a galaxy around 10 billion light-years away in the constellation...

This Hubble image shows Saturn, its bright white rings, and its three moons: Mimas, Dione, and Enceladus; spoke features on the left and right sides of the rings appear like faint gray smudges against the rings’ bright backdrop, about midway from the planet to the rings’ outer edge. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / STScI / Amy Simon, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Hubble Space Telescope Spots ‘Spokes’ in Saturn’s Rings

Dec 21, 2023 by News Staff

The gas giant Saturn is known for its iconic ring system. However, its B ring can have splotches and streaks of darker or lighter material, known as spokes,...

The Running Chicken Nebula comprises several clouds, all of which we can see in this OmegaCAM/VST image. Image credit: ESO / VPHAS+ Team / CASU.

OmegaCAM Snaps Best Ever Image of Running Chicken Nebula

Dec 21, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the OmegaCAM instrument on ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope (VST) have captured the 1.5-billion-pixel image of a vast stellar nursery called...

An artist’s impression of FRB 110523 reaching Earth; the colors represent the burst arriving at different radio wavelengths, with long wavelengths (red) arriving seconds after short wavelengths (blue). Image credit: Jingchuan Yu / Beijing Planetarium.

Astronomers Detect Highly Active Repeating Fast Radio Burst

Dec 21, 2023 by News Staff

FRB 20220912A is a repeating fast radio burst that was discovered in 2022 and remained highly active for several months. Using the recently refurbished...

This Hubble image shows UGC 8091, a dwarf irregular galaxy some 7 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo. The color image was made from separate exposures taken with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Yumi Choi, NSF’s NOIRLab / Karoline Gilbert, STScI / Julianne Dalcanton, Center for Computational Astrophysics & Flatiron Institute, University of Washington.

Hubble Takes Close Look at UGC 8091

Dec 20, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The Hubble team has released a close-up image of the dwarf irregular galaxy UGC 8091, which resembles a sparkling festive snow globe. This Hubble image...

This composite image shows the young star cluster NGC 2264, also known as the Christmas Tree Cluster. Image credit: NASA / CXC / SAO / T.A. Rector, NRAO, AUI, NSF, NOIRLab & AURA / B.A. Wolpa, NOIRLab, NSF & AURA / IPAC / Caltech / Universe of Massachusetts / L. Frattare / J.Major.

Astronomers Release Stunning Image of ‘Christmas Tree’ Star Cluster

Dec 20, 2023 by News Staff

The ‘Christmas Tree Cluster,’ also known as NGC 2264, is located approximately 2,600 light-years away in the constellation of Monoceros. This composite...

This Hubble image shows the galaxy cluster SDSS J1226+2152. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / J. Rigby / JWST TEMPLATES Team.

Webb Focuses on Gravitationally-Lensing Galaxy Cluster

Dec 19, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

SDSS J1226+2152, a huge galaxy cluster in the constellation of Coma Berenices, acts as a strong gravitational lens, causing light from distant galaxies...

This Webb image exquisitely captures the seasonal north polar cap of Uranus, including the bright, white, inner cap and the dark lane in the bottom of the polar cap. Uranus’ dim inner and outer rings are also visible in this image, including the elusive Zeta ring -- the extremely faint and diffuse ring closest to the planet. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI.

Webb Captures New Images of Uranus, Its Enigmatic Rings and Moons

Dec 18, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

New images from the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) instrument onboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope shows Uranus, its ring system and some...

This Hubble image shows MCG-01-24-014, an active spiral galaxy some 275 million light-years away in the constellation of Hydra. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / C. Kilpatrick

Hubble Space Telescope Snaps Beautiful Image of Active Spiral Galaxy

Dec 18, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

A dazzling new photo from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the bright spiral galaxy MCG-01-24-014, which is known to host an active galactic nucleus. This...

This artist’s impression shows Proxima b orbiting Proxima Centauri, which at only 4.23 light-years is the closest star to our Solar System. The double star Alpha Centauri AB also appears in the image between the exoplanet and Proxima itself. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Proxima b May Harbor Explosive Cryovolcanoes and Habitable Subsurface Ocean

Dec 15, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers from NASA and the University of Washington have estimated total internal heating rates and depths to possible subsurface oceans for 17 planets...

An artist’s impression of a massive binary system. Image credit: ESO / M. Kornmesser / S.E. de Mink.

Astronomers Find Population of Stripped Helium Stars in Magellanic Clouds

Dec 14, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Removing the hydrogen-rich layers from a main sequence star exposes the helium-rich core. Such stripped helium stars are known at high and low masses,...

This image from Webb’s NIRCam instrument shows the central portion of the star cluster IC 348. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / K. Luhman, Penn State University / C. Alves de Oliveira, ESA.

Webb Finds Small Free-Floating Brown Dwarf in Star-Forming Cluster IC 348

Dec 13, 2023 by Natali Anderson

The newly-discovered brown dwarf has an estimated mass of 3-4 Jupiter masses, making it a strong contender for the least massive free-floating brown dwarf...

The merger of two neutron stars is among the leading candidate sites for synthesizing the heavier elements on the periodic table through the r-process. Image credit: Matthew Mumpower, Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Ancient Stars were Capable of Producing Elements with Atomic Masses Greater than 260, Scientists Say

Dec 11, 2023 by News Staff

The rapid neutron capture process, or the so-called r-process, occurs in neutron-rich environments such as neutron star mergers or certain types of supernovae....