Astronomy News

Ancient Mexicans Had Very Accurate Agricultural Calendar, Study Says

The Monolith of the Stone of the Sun, also known as the Aztec calendar stone, in the National Museum of Anthropology and History, Mexico City, Mexico. Image credit: El Comandante / CC BY-SA 3.0.
Dec 14, 2022 by News Staff

The accurate agricultural calendar allowed the ancient inhabitants of the Basin of Mexico to plan their agricultural cycle to feed one of the largest population densities on Earth, as well as maintaining rituals associated to the solar seasons; to achieve this, they used the rugged topography of the Basin of Mexico as a precise solar observatory and also built a high-altitude stone causeway for accurate adjustments of their calendar to the solar year. The...

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This image shows Messier 66, an intermediate spiral galaxy located 31 million light-years away in the constellation of Leo. Image credit: ESO / PHANGS.

ESO Releases New Image of Spiral Galaxy Messier 66

Dec 13, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

This image of Messier 66 is a composite of separate exposures acquired by the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on ESO’s Very Large Telescope...

This image of the Southern Ring Nebula was captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI); it highlights the very hot gas that surrounds the central stars. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / O. De Marco, Macquarie University / J. DePasquale, STScI.

Multiple Star System Produced Southern Ring Nebula, Webb Astronomers Say

Dec 12, 2022 by News Staff

At least three, and possibly four, progenitor stars crafted the oblong, curvy shapes of the Southern Ring Nebula, according to a new analysis of data from...

This Hubble image shows several member stars of the young open cluster NGC 6530. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / ESO / O. De Marco / M.H. Özsaraç.

Hubble Spots Open Star Cluster in Lagoon Nebula

Dec 12, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA has released a beautiful photo taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of a portion of NGC 6530, a young open cluster embedded within the Lagoon...

This artist’s illustration shows the location and size of a hypothetical cloud of dust surrounding our Solar System. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Andi James, STScI.

Astronomers Detect Residual Glow around Our Solar System

Dec 8, 2022 by News Staff

Astronomers with the SKYSURF project have searched through 200,000 archival images from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and made tens of thousands...

This Hubble image shows NGC 2002, an open cluster some 160,000 light-years away in the southern constellation of Dorado. Image credit: NASA / ESA / G. Gilmore, University of Cambridge / Gladys Kober, NASA & Catholic University of America.

Hubble Captures Stunning View of NGC 2002

Dec 7, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

The Hubble team has released a beautiful new image of the open star cluster NGC 2002. This Hubble image shows NGC 2002, an open cluster some 160,000 light-years...

When neutron stars merge, they can produce radioactive ejecta that powers a kilonova signal, as this conceptual image shows. Image credit: Dreamstime.

Hybrid Neutron-Star Merger Detected for the First Time

Dec 7, 2022 by News Staff

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) come in two varieties, long and short. Long GRBs, which last a couple of seconds to one minute, form when a star at least 10 times...

This Hubble image shows BSDL 2757, an open cluster some 160,000 light-years away in the constellation of Dorado. Image credit: NASA / ESA / L. Bianchi, Johns Hopkins University / G. Kober, NASA & Catholic University of America.

Hubble Sees Blue-White Stars in Distant Open Cluster

Dec 6, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured an amazing new photo of the open cluster BSDL 2757. This Hubble image shows BSDL 2757,...

This Webb image shows the Pillars of Creation, a small star-forming region some 6,500 light-years away in the constellation of Serpens. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / J. DePasquale, STScI / A. Pagan, STScI / A. M. Koekemoer, STScI.

Webb Team Releases Composite Image of Pillars of Creation

Dec 5, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers have combined Webb’s near-infrared image with the mid-infrared image, setting the iconic Pillars of Creation ablaze with new details. This...

This Hubble image shows the young open star NGC 376. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / A. Nota / G. De Marchi.

Hubble Space Telescope Observes NGC 376

Dec 5, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have produced this beautiful image of NGC 376, a young open star cluster in the Small Magellanic...

These images of Saturn’s moon Titan were captured by Webb’s NIRCam instrument on November 4, 2022. Left: image using F212N, a 2.12-micron filter sensitive to Titan’s lower atmosphere; the bright spots are prominent clouds in the northern hemisphere. Right: color composite image using a combination of NIRCam filters; several prominent surface features are labeled: Kraken Mare is thought to be a methane sea; Belet is composed of dark-colored sand dunes; Adiri is a bright albedo feature. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / A. Pagan, STScI / Webb Titan GTO Team.

Webb Sees Clouds in Hazy Atmosphere of Titan

Dec 2, 2022 by News Staff

Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, is the only moon in the Solar System with a dense atmosphere, and it is also the only planetary body other than Earth...

An artist’s impression of a tidal disruption event. Image credit: Carl Knox / OzGrav, ARC Centre of Excellence for Gravitational Wave Discovery, Swinburne University of Technology.

Astronomers Detect Very Luminous Jet from Star-Eating Supermassive Black Hole

Dec 1, 2022 by News Staff

A supermassive black hole devours a star that has come too close. In extremely rare instances — only about 1% of the time — these so-called...

This Webb image shows the merging galaxy pair ZW II 96. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / L. Armus / A. Evans / Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA / Hubble Collaboration.

Webb Watches Cataclysmic Collision of Two Galaxies

Dec 1, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

The Webb team has released a beautiful photo taken by the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope of ZW II 96, a merging galaxy pair in the constellation...

This Webb image shows the center of Messier 74. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / Hoyer et al., arXiv: 2211.13997.

Webb Focuses on Nuclear Star Cluster of Messier 74

Nov 30, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Using new images from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope as well as archival data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have studied...

This Hubble image shows NGC 2660, an open cluster 8,617 light-years away in the constellation of Vela. Image credit: NASA / ESA / T. von Hippel, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University / Gladys Kober, NASA & Catholic University of America.

Hubble Space Telescope Takes a Close Look at NGC 2660

Nov 30, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have taken a very detailed image of the open cluster NGC 2660. This Hubble image shows NGC 2660,...

This Hubble image shows the 12-billion-year-old globular cluster Pismis 26. Imag credit: NASA / ESA / R. Cohen, Rutgers the State University of New Jersey / Gladys Kober, NASA / Catholic University of America.

Hubble Observes Globular Cluster Pismis 26

Nov 29, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

The Hubble team has released a beautiful image of Pismis 26, an ancient globular cluster in the constellation of Scorpius. This Hubble image shows the...

This Hubble image shows DEM L 190, a young supernova remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / S. Kulkarni / Y. Chu.

Hubble Spots Colorful Supernova Remnant in Large Magellanic Cloud

Nov 28, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

The new Hubble image shows sheets and filaments of debris from a massive star that exploded as a supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a nearby, small...

This illustration shows the IXPE spacecraft (right) observing the blazar Markarian 501 (left). A blazar is a black hole surrounded by a disk of gas and dust with a bright jet of high-energy particles pointed toward Earth. The inset illustration shows high-energy particles in the jet (blue). When the particles hit the shock wave, depicted as a white bar, the particles become energized and emit X-rays as they accelerate. Moving away from the shock, they emit lower-energy light: first visible, then infrared, and radio waves. Farther from the shock, the magnetic field lines are more chaotic, causing more turbulence in the particle stream. Image credit: NASA / Pablo Garcia.

IXPE Spacecraft Examines Particle Acceleration in Blazar Jets

Nov 24, 2022 by News Staff

Blazars are active galactic nuclei with jets of magnetized plasma that point nearly along the line of sight. Most of the light from these extremely luminous...

This image of the Orion Nebula features plenty of dust but no stars. The color image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, NASA’s Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer and ESA’s Herschel Space Telescope. Image credit: NASA / ESA / JPL-Caltech.

Astronomers Release Breathtaking New View of Orion Nebula

Nov 24, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

The famous Orion Nebula can be seen with the naked eye as a fuzzy patch surrounding the star Theta Orionis in the Hunter’s Sword, below Orion’s belt. This...

This illustration shows what WASP-39b could look like, based on the current understanding of the planet. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / J. Olmsted, STScI.

Webb Reveals Atmospheric Composition of Hot-Saturn WASP-39b

Nov 22, 2022 by News Staff

While the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope and other space telescopes previously have revealed isolated ingredients of the atmosphere of WASP-39b,...

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