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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.

Universe was Five Times Slower Soon after Big Bang, Astrophysicists Say

Jul 3, 2023 by News Staff

A fundamental consequence of the relativistic picture of expanding space is cosmological time dilation, where events in the distant Universe appear to...

This Hubble image shows UGC 11860, a spiral galaxy located some 184 million light-years away in the constellation of Pegasus. The color image is made up of observations from Hubble’s WFC3 camera in the ultraviolet, near-infrared, and optical parts of the spectrum. It is based on data obtained through three filters. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / A. Filippenko / J.D. Lyman.

Hubble Space Telescope Looks at Supernova-Hosting Spiral Galaxy

Jul 3, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has delivered an unrivalled snapshot of the spiral galaxy UGC 11860. This Hubble image shows UGC 11860, a spiral galaxy...

ESA’s Euclid spacecraft will orbit the second Lagrange point (L2), 1.5 million km from Earth in the opposite direction to the Sun. L2 is an equilibrium point of the Sun-Earth system that follows Earth around the Sun. In its orbit at L2, Euclid’s sunshield can always block the light from the Sun, Earth and Moon while pointing its telescope towards deep space, ensuring a high level of stability for its instruments. At L2, Euclid joins ESA’s Gaia mission and the ESA/NASA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, which are also orbiting around this equilibrium point, each following well separated trajectories. Image credit: ESA.

ESA’s Euclid Mission Launches to Explore Dark Matter and Energy

Jul 3, 2023 by News Staff

The Euclid spacecraft, built and operated by ESA, with contributions from NASA, lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 11:12...

An artist’s composition of the Milky Way seen through a neutrino lens (blue). Image credit: IceCube / NSF / Lily Le / Shawn Johnson / ESO / S. Brunier.

IceCube Detects High-Energy Neutrino Emission from Milky Way’s Galactic Plane

Jun 30, 2023 by News Staff

Observations of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos have shown that they mostly originate from extragalactic sources such as active galaxies. However,...

An artist’s interpretation of an array of pulsars being affected by gravitational ripples produced by a supermassive black hole binary in a distant galaxy. Image credit: Aurore Simonnet / NANOGrav Collaboration.

Astrophysicists Detect Low-Frequency Gravitational Waves

Jun 29, 2023 by News Staff

Astrophysicists from the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) Collaboration have found evidence for gravitational waves...

The hot Jupiter exoplanet Halla could once have orbited two stars that interacted via mass transfer. Image credit: Tobias Roetsch / gtgraphics.de.

Close-In Giant Exoplanet Escapes Engulfment by Its Red-Giant Host

Jun 28, 2023 by News Staff

The giant planet 8 Ursae Minoris b (also known as Halla) orbits the core-helium-burning red giant star 8 Ursae Minoris (Baekdu). At a distance of only...

This artist’s conception shows the Jupiter-like protoplanet HD 169142b interacting with and heating nearby molecular gas, driving outflows seen in several emission lines, including those from shock-tracing molecules like SO and SiS, and the commonly seen 12CO and 13CO. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / M. Weiss / AUI / NSF.

Astronomers Find Chemical Evidence for Planet Formation around HD 169142

Jun 28, 2023 by News Staff

Planets form in dusty, gas-rich circumstellar disks around young stars, while at the same time, the planet formation process alters the physical and chemical...

This image from ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope shows Sh2-284, a nebula some 15,000 light-years away in the constellation of Monoceros. Image credit: ESO / VPHAS+ Team / CASU.

VST Captures Stunning Image of ‘Smiling Cat’ Nebula

Jun 28, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

ESO astronomers have released an absolutely beautiful image snapped by the VLT Survey Telescope (VST) of the Sh2-284 nebula. This image from ESO’s VLT...

This image taken by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera shows a part of the Orion Nebula known as the Orion Bar. It is a region where energetic ultraviolet light from the Trapezium Cluster -- located off the upper-left corner -- interacts with dense molecular clouds. The energy of the stellar radiation is slowly eroding the Orion Bar, and this has a profound effect on the molecules and chemistry in the protoplanetary disks that have formed around newborn stars here. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / M. Zamani / PDRs4All ERS Team.

Webb Detects Crucial Carbon Molecule in Protoplanetary Disk

Jun 26, 2023 by News Staff

The vital role of a carbon molecule called methyl cation (CH3+) in interstellar carbon chemistry was predicted in the 1970s, but the unique capabilities...

This Hubble image shows ESO 174-1, a highly irregular galaxy some 11 million light-years away in the constellation of Centaurus. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / R. Tully.

Hubble Spots Highly Irregular Galaxy in Centaurus

Jun 26, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

An irregular galaxy called ESO 174-1 resembles a lonely, hazy cloud against a backdrop of bright stars. This Hubble image shows ESO 174-1, a highly irregular...

With a dayside temperature of roughly 380 K (107 degrees Celsius, 225 degrees Fahrenheit), TRAPPIST-1c is now the coolest rocky exoplanet ever characterized based on thermal emission. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Joseph Olmsted, STScI.

TRAPPIST-1c Has Very Thin, Carbon Dioxide-Poor Atmosphere

Jun 23, 2023 by News Staff

Seven rocky planets orbit the nearby dwarf star TRAPPIST-1, providing a unique opportunity to search for atmospheres on small planets outside the Solar...

GRB 191019A came from the collision of stars or stellar remnants in the jam-packed environment surrounding a supermassive black hole at the core of an ancient galaxy. Image credit: International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / M. Garlick / M. Zamani.

Long-Duration Gamma-Ray Burst Traced to Nucleus of Ancient Galaxy

Jun 22, 2023 by News Staff

Unlike most gamma-ray bursts, which are caused by exploding massive stars or the chance mergers of neutron stars, a long gamma-ray burst event dubbed GRB...

The LP 890-9 system is much more compact than our Solar System: its two planets could easily fit inside the orbit of Mercury. Image credit: Adeline Deward, RISE-Illustration.

Hot Earth or Young Venus: Nearby Super-Earth May Reveal Secrets about Edge of Habitability

Jun 22, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Venus and Earth provide astonishingly different views of the evolution of a rocky planet, raising the question of why these two rocky worlds evolved so...

IXPE and Chandra images have been combined to show X-ray data of the area around Sagittarius A. The lower panel combines IXPE data, in orange, with Chandra data in blue. The upper panel depicts a much wider field-of-view of the center of the Milky Way. The thin white lines layered onto the top panel frame the highlighted area, and indicate that the perspective in the bottom panel has been rotated approximately 45 degrees to the right. The combination of IXPE and Chandra data helped the astronomers determine that the X-ray light identified in the molecular clouds originated from Sagittarius A* during an outburst approximately 200 years ago. Image credit: NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center / Marin et al. / CXC / SAO / L. Frattare / J.Major / K.Arcand.

IXPE Detects 200-Year-Old Flare from Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole

Jun 22, 2023 by News Staff

The center of the Milky Way Galaxy hosts Sagittarius A*, a supermassive black hole with a mass of about 4 million solar masses that is very quiescent....

Iglesias-Groth used spectra from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope to conduct a search for the aromatic amino acid tryptophan in the interstellar gas of the young star cluster IC 348. Image credit: Jorge Rebolo-Iglesias / NASA / Spitzer Space Telescope.

Amino Acid Tryptophan Detected in Young Star Cluster

Jun 20, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Using infrared spectral data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias astronomer has detected the aromatic amino acid...

This artist’s impression shows AR Scorpii. In this unique double star a rapidly spinning white dwarf star (right) powers electrons up to almost the speed of light. These high energy particles release blasts of radiation that lash the companion red dwarf star (left) and cause the entire system to pulse dramatically every 1.97 minutes with radiation ranging from the ultraviolet to radio. Image credit: M. Garlick / University of Warwick / ESO.

Astronomers Discover Second-Ever White Dwarf Pulsar

Jun 19, 2023 by News Staff

White dwarf pulsars include a rapidly spinning, burnt-out stellar remnant called a white dwarf, which lashes a companion red dwarf with powerful beams...

This Hubble image shows NGC 6544, a globular cluster located more than 8,000 light-years away in the constellation of Sagittarius. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / W. Lewin / F.R. Ferraro.

Hubble Zooms in on Globular Cluster NGC 6544

Jun 19, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The Hubble team has released a very beautiful close-up shot of the star-studded globular cluster NGC 6544. This Hubble image shows NGC 6544, a globular...

In shaping the Universe, gravity builds a vast cobweb-like structure of filaments tying galaxies and clusters of galaxies together along invisible bridges hundreds of millions of light-years long. This is known as the cosmic web. Image credit: Springel et al. / Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics.

New Link Found between Dark Matter and Universe’s Clumpiness

Jun 14, 2023 by News Staff

New research from the University of Toronto suggests that the so-called clumpiness problem, which centers on the unexpectedly even distribution of matter...

An artist’s rendition of a multiplanetary circumbinary system. Image credit: NASA’s Ames Research Center / JPL-Caltech / T. Pyle.

Astronomers Discover New Multiplanetary Circumbinary System

Jun 13, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Circumbinary planetary systems contain planets that orbit around two stars in the center instead of just one, like in our Solar System. An artist’s rendition...