Astronomy News | Sci.News

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...

This image, taken with ESA’s Solar Orbiter on April 1, 2022, shows a partial section of the Sun with gas at 1 million degrees; the red paths correspond to some of the rain tracks analyzed by Antolin et al. Image credit: Patrick Antolin / ESA / Solar Orbiter / EUI / HRI.

Meteor-Like ‘Fireballs’ Spotted in Solar Corona

Jul 6, 2023 by News Staff

Coronal rain is the most dramatic display of cooling in the Sun’s corona. It corresponds to cool and dense clumps of plasma appearing over a timescale...

Hubble image of NGC 6946, the host galaxy of both SNe 2004et and 2017eaw. Bottom left-hand panel: composite image of SN 2004et taken with Webb/MIRI. Bottom right-hand panel: composite image of SN 2017eaw taken with Webb/MIRI. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Ori Fox, STScI / Melissa Shahbandeh, STScI / Alyssa Pagan, STScI.

Webb Observes Dust Reservoirs in Two Type IIP Supernovae

Jul 6, 2023 by News Staff

The dust reservoirs observed in two type IIP supernovae, SN 2004et and SN 2017eaw, both in the medium-sized, face-on spiral galaxy NGC 6946 about 22 million...

This deep galaxy field from Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) shows an arrangement of 10 distant galaxies marked by eight white circles in a diagonal, thread-like line. Two of the circles contain more than one galaxy. This 3 million light-year-long filament is anchored by a very distant and luminous quasar. Ccalled J0305-3150, this quasar appears in the middle of the cluster of three circles on the right side of the image. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Feige Wang, University of Arizona.

Webb Detects 3-Million-Light-Year-Long Filament of Galaxies in Early Universe

Jul 5, 2023 by News Staff

Galaxies are strung along filaments in the vast cosmic web, which also contains enormous voids. Using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers...

The direct image of the giant exoplanet AF Lep b. Image credit: Franson et al., doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/acd6f6.

Astronomers Directly Image Jupiter-Like Exoplanet around Nearby Young Star

Jul 4, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The giant exoplanet AF Leporis b orbits a 1.2-solar-mass star in the 24-million-year-old beta Pictoris moving group. The direct image of the giant exoplanet...

This Webb image shows NGC 3256, a spiral galaxy located 131 million light-years away in the constellation of Vela. The galaxy’s core is radiating very brightly. Streaks of dust glow intensely red, in the center and across most of the galaxy. This gas is surrounded by a dark gray halo made of the galaxy’s stars. The halo stretches out into a tidal tail at the upper-left, and another at the bottom. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / L. Armus / A. Evans.

Webb Snaps Stunning Image of NGC 3256

Jul 4, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA has released a stunning image snapped by the James Webb Space Telescope of the Milky Way-sized spiral galaxy NGC 3256. This Webb image shows NGC 3256,...