Astronomy News

Astronomers See Signs of Planet Formation around V960 Mon

This composite image shows V960 Mon, a young star located over 5,000 light-years away in the constellation of Monoceros. Observations obtained using the Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet REsearch (SPHERE) instrument on ESO’s VLT, represented in yellow in this image, show that the dusty material orbiting V960 Mon is assembling together in a series of intricate spiral arms extending to distances greater than the entire Solar System. Meanwhile, the blue regions represent data obtained with ALMA. The ALMA data peers deeper into the structure of the spiral arms, revealing large dusty clumps that could contract and collapse to form giant planets roughly the size of Jupiter via a process known as gravitational instability. Image credit: ESO / ALMA / NAOJ / NRAO / Weber et al.
Jul 26, 2023 by News Staff

The formation of giant planets has traditionally been divided into two pathways: core accretion and gravitational instability. However, in recent years, gravitational instability has become less favored, primarily due to the scarcity of observations of fragmented protoplanetary disks around young stars and the low occurrence rate of massive planets on very wide orbits. Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter...

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NGC 1532 is caught in a lopsided tug of war with its smaller neighbor, NGC 1531. Image credit: CTIO / NOIRLab / DOE / NSF / AURA / R. Colombari / M. Zamani / D. de Martin, NSF’s NOIRLab.

Dark Energy Camera Focuses on Massive Spiral Galaxy and Its Companion

Jul 25, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using the 570-megapixel Dark Energy Camera (DECam) at NSF/NOIRLab Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory have captured a stunning photo of...

This artist’s concept portrays PDS 70 and its inner protoplanetary disk. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / J. Olmsted, STScI.

Webb Detects Water in Terrestrial Planet-Forming Zone around PDS 70

Jul 25, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Terrestrial and sub-Neptune exoplanets are expected to form in the inner regions of protoplanetary disks around their parent stars. Water plays a key role...

This Hubble image of Dimorphos was taken on December 19, 2022, nearly four months after the asteroid was impacted by NASA’s DART mission. Dimorphos has a blue dust tail extending diagonally to the upper right. A cluster of blue dots surrounds the asteroid. These are boulders that were knocked off the asteroid. Image credit: NASA / ESA / D. Jewitt, UCLA.

Hubble Spots Swarm of Boulders around Asteroid Dimorphos

Jul 24, 2023 by News Staff

On September 26, 2022, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) intentionally slammed into the 160-m-wide asteroid moonlet Dimorphos — which...

This Hubble image UGC 12295, a face-on spiral galaxy located some 192 million light-years away in the constellation of Pisces. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / A. Filippenko / J. Lyman.

Hubble Captures Image of Beautiful Face-On Spiral Galaxy

Jul 24, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The Hubble team has released a stunning new image snapped by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of the spiral galaxy UGC 12295. This Hubble image UGC...

SPT-CL J2215-3537 resembles a blue cloud with a hazy golden light at its core. The cluster is set against the blackness of space, which is dotted with white, orange and blue specks of light. A combination of X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, and infrared light, was used to create the image. The blue cloud represents X-ray gas observed by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. The cloud is soft, and uniform in texture. Over time, galaxy clusters often merge or collide. These collisions cause disturbances and sharp features in a cluster’s gas. When a cluster takes on a smooth, calm appearance, as found here in SPT-CL J2215-3537, it indicates that no such collisions have occurred for a very long time. Astronomers call these galaxy clusters ‘relaxed.’ The hazy golden light at the heart of the cloud represents a massive central galaxy with a large amount of star formation. This central galaxy is quite isolated within the blue gas cloud. There are relatively few nearby specks of light near the central galaxy, and none are as bright or as large. No other large galaxies have been found within 600,000 light-years of the central galaxy. This implies that SPT-CL J2215-3537 has not experienced a galaxy merger in the last billion years. Image credit: NASA / CXC / MIT / M. Calzadilla / STScI / HST / N. Wolk.

Chandra Spots ‘Relaxed’ Galaxy Cluster in Distant Universe

Jul 21, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The dynamically relaxed galaxy cluster SPT-CL J2215-3537 is about 8.4 billion light-years from Earth, making it the farthest galaxy cluster ever spotted...

This ALMA image shows the young planetary system PDS 70. The system features a star at its center, around which the planet PDS 70b (highlighted with a solid yellow circle) is orbiting. On the same orbit as PDS 70b, indicated by a solid yellow ellipse, Balsalobre-Ruza et al. detected a cloud of debris (circled by a yellow dotted line) that could be the building blocks of a new planet or the remnants of one already formed. The ring-like structure that dominates the image is a circumstellar disk of material, out of which planets are forming. There is in fact another planet in this system: PDS 70c, seen at 3 o’clock right next to the inner rim of the disk. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / Balsalobre-Ruza et al.

ALMA Detects Possible Trojan Protoplanet around PDS 70

Jul 20, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

PDS 70, a young K7-type star some 370 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Centaurus, is a unique target for planetary formation studies...

An artist’s impression of the two-faced white dwarf ZTF J203349.8+322901.1. Image credit: K. Miller, Caltech / IPAC.

Newfound White Dwarf Has Different Compositions on Its Opposite Faces

Jul 19, 2023 by News Staff

ZTF J203349.8+322901.1, nicknamed Janus after the two-faced Roman god of transition, is a transitioning white dwarf with two faces: one side of its atmosphere...

CSIRO’s Parkes radio telescope in New South Wales, Australia. Image credit: Shaun Amy.

Novel SETI Technique Filters Out Earth Interference to Focus on Alien Technosignatures

Jul 18, 2023 by News Staff

The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) aims to answer one of the most important scientific questions: are we alone in the Universe? Complementing...

This VISTA image shows IC 2631, a reflection nebula some 500 light-years away in the southern constellation of Chamaeleon. Image credit: ESO / Meingast et al.

VISTA Observes Beautiful Reflection Nebula

Jul 17, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

ESO’s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) shot this image of the reflection nebula IC 2631. This VISTA image shows IC 2631, a...

This Hubble image shows Arp 263, an irregular galaxy located 27.1 million light-years away in the constellation of Leo. The color image of Arp 263 was made from separate exposures taken in the visible and near-infrared regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field Camera 3. Two filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / J. Dalcanton / A. Filippenko.

Hubble Space Telescope Spots Triangle-Shaped Galaxy

Jul 17, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have produced a spectacularly detailed image of the irregular galaxy Arp 263. This Hubble image shows...

An artist’s impression of a supermassive dark star. Image credit: Sci.News.

Webb May Have Spotted Supermassive Dark Stars

Jul 15, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The first generation of stars in the Universe is yet to be observed. There are two leading theories for those objects: hydrogen burning Population III...

This image, taken with the Gemini South telescope, shows IC 2220, a reflection nebula some 1,200 light-years away in the constellation of Carina. Image credit: International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / T.A. Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage & NSF’s NOIRLab / J. Miller, Gemini Observatory & NSF’s NOIRLab / M. Rodriguez, Gemini Observatory & NSF’s NOIRLab / M. Zamani, NSF’s NOIRLab.

Gemini South Telescope Observes Reflection Nebula

Jul 13, 2023 by News Staff

This new image from the Gemini South telescope, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, operated by NSF’s NOIRLab, shows the nearly symmetrical...

Brown dwarfs are common in the Universe but are rarely found to emit radio waves. Image credit: NASA.

ASKAP Telescope Detects Periodic Radio Emission from Ultracool Dwarf

Jul 13, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The T8-dwarf WISE J062309.94-045624.6 is the coolest and latest-type star observed to produce radio emission, according to an analysis of data from CSIRO’s...

This Webb image shows a part of the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, the closest star-forming region to Earth. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / Klaus Pontoppidan, STScI.

Webb Celebrates First Anniversary with Spectacular Image of Nearby Star-Forming Region

Jul 12, 2023 by News Staff

The Webb team has released a beautiful image of a small star-forming region in the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex. This Webb image shows a part of the Rho...

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.

Our Universe is 26.7 Billion Years Old, Astrophysicist Claims

Jul 11, 2023 by News Staff

The Universe could be twice as old as current estimates, according to new research from the University of Ottawa that challenges the dominant cosmological...

Tiny meteoritic spherules from the most likely path of IM1. Image credit: Avi Loeb, Harvard University / Galileo Project.

Tiny Fragments of Interstellar Meteor May Have Been Found in Pacific Ocean

Jul 10, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Harvard University’s Professor Avi Loeb and colleagues have discovered at least 50 tiny spherical iron fragments near the fireball path of the first...

An artist’s impression of LTT 9779b orbiting its host star. Image credit: Ricardo Ramírez Reyes, Universidad de Chile.

Cheops Finds Metal Clouds in Atmosphere of Ultrahot Neptune

Jul 10, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Aside from the Moon, the brightest object in our night sky is planet Venus, whose thick cloud layer reflects around 75% of the Sun’s light. By comparison,...

This Hubble image shows eMACS J1353.7+4329, a lensing galaxy cluster some 8 billion light-years away in the constellation of Canes Venatici. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / H. Ebeling.

Hubble Space Telescope Observes Exceptional Galaxy Cluster

Jul 10, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured a remarkable image of the strongly lensing galaxy cluster eMACS J1353.7+4329. This...

CEERS 1019’s black hole existed just over 570 million years after the Big Bang and weighs only 9 million solar masses. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Leah Hustak, STScI.

Astronomers Detect Farthest Active Supermassive Black Hole Yet

Jul 6, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA / CSA James Webb Space Telescope have discovered an active supermassive black hole in CEERS 1019, a galaxy that existed...

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