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A photo of the huge elliptical galaxy Messier 87 (left) is compared to its 3D shape as gleaned from meticulous observations made with Hubble and Keck telescopes (right). Image credit: NASA / ESA / Joseph Olmsted, STScI / Frank Summers, STScI / Chung-Pei Ma, UC Berkeley.

Astronomers Measure 3D Shape of Messier 87 and Mass of Its Central Black Hole

Apr 17, 2023 by News Staff

Messier 87, a massive elliptical galaxy located approximately 53 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo, turns out to be triaxial, or potato-shaped,...

This Hubble image shows UGC 678, a barred spiral galaxy some 260 million light-years away in the constellation of Pisces. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / C. Kilpatrick / R.J. Foley.

Hubble Observes Beautiful Spiral Galaxy

Apr 17, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured a striking new photo of the barred spiral galaxy UGC 678. This Hubble image shows UGC...

Color-composite image of the galaxy cluster RX J2129.6+0005; green circles indicate three lensed images of the dwarf starburst galaxy RX J2129-z95. Image credit: Williams et al., doi: 10.1126/science.adf5307.

Webb Finds Tiny Star-Forming Galaxy in Early Universe

Apr 13, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The newly-discovered galaxy, named RX J2129-z95, appears as three images due to the gravitational lensing of the foreground galaxy cluster RX J2129.6+0005....

New image of M87* generated by the PRIMO algorithm using the 2017 EHT data. Image credit: Medeiros et al., doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/acc32d.

EHT Image of Messier 87’s Black Hole Reconstructed with Novel Machine Learning Algorithm

Apr 13, 2023 by News Staff

The iconic Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) image of the supermassive black hole at the center of Messier 87 has received its first official makeover, thanks...

Kosec et al. mapped the winds associated with the accretion disk around Hercules X-1, a binary system located 6,600 parsecs (21,526 light-years) away in the constellation of Hercules. Image credit: Jose-Luis Olivares, MIT / D. Klochkov, ESA.

Astronomers Map Colossal ‘Disk Winds’ in Hercules X-1

Apr 12, 2023 by News Staff

Hercules X-1 is an X-ray binary system in which a neutron star is drawing material away from a Sun-like star. This neutron star’s accretion disk is unique...

An artist’s impression of a runaway supermassive black hole that was ejected from its host galaxy as a result of a tussle between it and two other black holes. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Leah Hustak, STScI.

Hubble Spots Runaway Supermassive Black Hole

Apr 11, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The newly-discovered supermassive black hole resides in a compact star-forming galaxy around 7.7 billion years away and has a mass of 20 million solar...

This image of the Crab Nebula combines data from IXPE in magenta and NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory in dark purple. Image credit: IXPE / NASA / Chandra / CXC / SAO / K. Arcand / L. Frattare.

IXPE Observes Crab Nebula and Its Pulsar

Apr 11, 2023 by News Staff

Located 6,500 light-years away in the constellation of Taurus, the Crab Nebula and its pulsar formed in a supernova whose light reached Earth in July 1054. This...

Astronomers from the ACT Collaboration used NSF’s Atacama Cosmology Telescope to create this new map of the dark matter; the orange regions show where there is more mass; purple where there is less or none; the typical features are hundreds of millions of light years across; the whitish band shows where contaminating light from dust in our Milky Way Galaxy, measured by ESA’s Planck satellite, obscures a deeper view. Image credit: ACT Collaboration.

Astronomers Create Most Detailed Map of Dark Matter

Apr 11, 2023 by News Staff

Using data from NSF’s Atacama Cosmology Telescope, astronomers have produced the most detailed map of dark matter distributed across one quarter of the...

This new image from Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) shows Cassiopeia A, a supernova remnant located about 11,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / D.D. Milisavljevic, Purdue University / T. Temim, Princeton University / I. De Looze, Ghent University / J. DePasquale, STScI.

Webb Shows Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A in New Light

Apr 10, 2023 by News Staff

A new mid-infrared image from the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) onboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope shows the supernova remnant Cassiopeia...

This Webb image shows Uranus and six of its 27 known moons (most of which are too small and faint to be seen in this short exposure). Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / J. DePasquale, STScI.

Webb Captures Stunning Images of Uranus and Its Moons

Apr 10, 2023 by News Staff

New images from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope show the ice giant Uranus, its faint rings and several moons. This image of Uranus, captured...

This Hubble image shows JO204, a spiral galaxy some 600 million light-years away in the constellation of Sextans. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / M. Gullieuszik / GASP Team.

Hubble Space Telescope Spies Jellyfish Galaxy Edge-On

Apr 10, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The new image of JO204, a spiral galaxy located approximately 600 million light-years away in the constellation of Sextans, was captured by the NASA/ESA...

To the lower right of this Webb image is the lensing cluster SDSS J1226+2149 with a very large and bright elliptical galaxy at its center; thin, reddish, stretched-out arcs surround it; one arc is thick and much brighter; another red galaxy is large and warped, just next to the cluster core. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / J. Rigby.

Webb Spots Cosmic Seahorse

Apr 5, 2023 by News Staff

The lensing galaxy cluster SDSS J1226+2149 has magnified distant galaxies, warping their shapes and creating the bright smears of light spread throughout...

This artist’s concept shows the brilliant glare of two quasars residing in the cores of two galaxies that are in the chaotic process of merging. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Joseph Olmsted, STScI.

Merger of Two Massive Disk Galaxies Produces Dual Quasar

Apr 5, 2023 by News Staff

Using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and other space and ground-based observatories, astronomers have discovered SDSS J0749+2255, a closely bound...

The location of Gaia BH2 and Gaia BH1 in the Milky Way. This map of our Galaxy was also made by the Gaia mission. Image credit: ESA / Gaia / DPAC / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

Gaia Discovers Its Second Black Hole

Apr 4, 2023 by News Staff

The newly-discovered dormant black hole, named Gaia BH2, is orbited by a red giant star, and has a mass of 8.9 solar masses. The location of Gaia BH2 and...

An artist’s conceptual rendering of interactions between a prospective exoplanet and its star. Image credit: NSF / Alice Kitterman.

Astronomers Detect Radio Emission Associated with Magnetic Field of Nearby Exoplanet

Apr 4, 2023 by News Staff

Observing magnetic star-planet interactions offers promise for determining the magnetic fields of exoplanets. Models of star-planet interactions predict...

This artist’s impression shows the evolution of the Universe beginning with the Big Bang on the left followed by the appearance of the Cosmic Microwave Background. The formation of the first stars ends the cosmic dark ages, followed by the formation of galaxies. Image credit: M. Weiss / Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Astrophysicists Find New Evidence for Standard Model of Cosmology

Apr 4, 2023 by News Staff

Astrophysicists from SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have measured the X-ray emission from galaxy clusters, which revealed...

An artist’s impression of the AT2018cow stellar explosion. Image credit: Phil Drury, University of Sheffield.

Astronomers Spot Flattest Known Stellar Explosion in Universe

Apr 3, 2023 by News Staff

The newly-observed stellar explosion, named AT2018cow, occurred approximately 180 million light-years away from Earth and belongs to a special class called...

This Hubble image shows UGC 2890, a small spiral galaxy some 30 million light-years away in the constellation of Camelopardalis. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / C. Kilpatrick.

Hubble Snaps Breathtaking New Image of UGC 2890

Apr 3, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have produced a beautiful image of the side-on spiral galaxy UGC 2890. This Hubble image shows UGC 2890, a small spiral...

This composite image shows the Saturn Lyman-alpha bulge, an emission from hydrogen which is a persistent and unexpected excess detected by NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft, NASA’s Cassini probe, and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope between 1980 and 2017. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Lotfi Ben-Jaffel, IAP & LPL.

Saturn’s Rings are Heating Gas Giant’s Upper Atmosphere, Astronomers Say

Mar 30, 2023 by News Staff

The most feasible explanation is that icy ring particles raining down onto Saturn’s atmosphere cause this heating, according to a team of astronomers...