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RCW 86, the tattered shell of SN 185, was captured by the Dark Energy Camera, which is mounted on the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Víctor M. Blanco 4-m telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. Image credit: CTIO / NOIRLab / DOE / NSF / AURA / T.A. Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage & NSF’s NOIRLab / J. Miller, Gemini Observatory & NSF’s NOIRLab / M. Zamani & D. de Martin, NSF’s NOIRLab.

Dark Energy Camera Observes Glowing Remnant of SN 185

Mar 2, 2023 by News Staff

Supernova (SN) 185 occurred in 185 CE in the direction of Alpha Centauri, between the constellations of Circinus and Centaurus, and remained visible to...

Illustration of the quasar triplet system and its environment. Image credit: Ni et al., doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/aca160.

New Study Sheds Light on Origin of Ultramassive Black Holes in Early Universe

Mar 2, 2023 by News Staff

Ultramassive black holes with extreme masses of over 50 billion solar masses can be formed in the rare events that are multiple quasar mergers happening...

This image shows Tycho’s SNR, which is located between 8,000 and 10,000 light-years away in the constellation of Cassiopeia. IXPE data (dark purple and white) have been combined with data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (red and blue) and overlaid with the stars in the field of view as captured by the Digitized Sky Survey. Image credit: IXPE / NASA / ASI / MSFC / INAF / Ferrazzoli et al. / Chandra / CXC / RIKEN / GSFC / Sato et al. / DSS / SAO / K. Arcand, L. Frattare & N. Wolk.

IXPE Detects Polarized X-Rays from Tycho’s Supernova Remnant

Mar 2, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) — a collaboration between NASA and the Italian Space Agency — have observed...

Multiwavelength detection of the X3 system with NIRC2 instrument at the W.M. Keck Observatory in 2019. Image credit: Peißker et al., doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/aca977.

Massive Protostar Spotted near Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole

Mar 1, 2023 by Natali Anderson

X3a is approximately 10 times larger than the Sun, 15 times as massive, and is only several tens of thousands of years old. Multiwavelength detection of...

SPT0418-47 is gravitationally lensed by a foreground galaxy, appearing in the sky as a near-perfect ring of light -- a so-called Einstein ring. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / Rizzo et al.

Dusty, Chemically Mature Galaxy Spotted in Early Universe

Feb 28, 2023 by News Staff

The newly-discovered galaxy, SPT0418-SE, and its much larger companion, SPT0418-47, reside in a massive dark-matter halo with yet-to-be-discovered neighbors,...

This Hubble image shows the spiral galaxy NGC 5033. The image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). It is based on data obtained through two filters. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Judy Schmidt, www.geckzilla.com.

ALMA Detects Supermassive Black Hole in Early Star-Forming Galaxy

Feb 28, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) have detected a rapidly growing supermassive black hole in COS-87259, a galaxy that forms stars...

Morphology evolution of X7’s thermal dust emission between 2002 and 2021: the images are oriented with equatorial north at the top and with Sagittarius A* positioned in the upper left corner of each panel. Image credit: Ciurlo et al., doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/acb344.

Astronomers Observe Elongated Object near Milky Way’s Central Black Hole

Feb 27, 2023 by News Staff

An elongated dust and gas feature named X7 has a mass of about 50 Earth masses and is on an orbital path around Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black...

This Hubble image shows JO201 (also known as Ka 364, LEDA 2456 and LEDA 93189), a jellyfish galaxy located in the constellation of Cetus. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / M. Gullieuszik.

Hubble Finds Star-Forming Clumps in Six Jellyfish Galaxies

Feb 27, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have observed clumps of star formation in the tails and disks of six ram-pressure stripped (jellyfish)...

Two dwarf-dwarf galaxy mergers in galaxy clusters Abell 133 (left) and Abell 1758S (right) are shown in X-rays from Chandra and optical light from the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope. The merger on the left is in a late stage and was given the single name of Mirabilis. The other merger is in the early stages and the two dwarf galaxies are named Elstir (bottom) and Vinteuil (top). Image credit: NASA / CXC / University of Alabama / Micic et al. / International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA.

Chandra Spots Two Pairs of Supermassive Black Holes on Collision Courses

Feb 23, 2023 by News Staff

According to observations and cosmological simulations, dwarf galaxies are the most abundant type of galaxies in the early Universe and the galaxy merger...

This candidate massive galaxy could contain as many stars as our present-day Milky Way. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / I. Labbe, Swinburne University of Technology / G. Brammer, Niels Bohr Institute’s Cosmic Dawn Center, University of Copenhagen.

Webb Discovers Impossibly Massive Galaxies in Early Universe

Feb 22, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have observed six candidate galaxies with stellar masses as high as 1011 solar masses about...

This artist’s conception shows two supermassive black holes, similar to those observed by Bansal et al, orbiting one another more than 750 million light years from Earth. Image credit: Josh Valenzuela, University of New Mexico.

Novel Model Paves Way for Deeper Understanding of Structure of Merging Black Holes

Feb 22, 2023 by News Staff

In 2015, astrophysicists for the first time detected gravitational waves, ripples in space-time that occur when neutron star or black hole mergers disrupt...

This false-color image shows the dwarf planet Ceres. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

New Study Sheds Light on Origin and Evolution of Ceres-Like Asteroids

Feb 21, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) telescope at Mauna Kea Observatory have captured and analyzed visible and near-infrared reflectance...

This Hubble image shows a large cluster of galaxies, SPT-CL J0019-2026, surrounded by various stars and smaller galaxies on a dark background. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the visible and near-infrared regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). It is based on data obtained through two filters. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / H. Ebeling.

Hubble Spots Gravitationally-Lensing Galaxy Cluster

Feb 20, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

SPT-CL J0019-2026, a huge cluster of galaxies located 4.6 billion light-years away in the constellation of Cetus, has so much mass that it acts as a gravitational...

This collage shows six planetary radar observations of 2011 AG5 a day after the asteroid made its close approach to Earth on February 3, 2022. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Very Oblong Asteroid Safely Flew Past Earth This Month

Feb 17, 2023 by News Staff

Stunning radar images of the near-Earth asteroid 2011 AG5 were obtained from January 29 to February 4, 2022, by the powerful 70-m (230-foot) Goldstone...

This Webb image shows NGC 7496, a barred spiral galaxy some 24 million light-years away in the constellation of Grus. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / Judy Schmidt.

Webb Focuses on Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Nearby Galaxies

Feb 16, 2023 by News Staff

Webb observations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon emission provide some of the deepest and highest resolution views of the cold interstellar medium...

This Webb image shows Abell 2744, a huge galaxy cluster some 4 billion light-years away in the constellation of Sculptor. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / I. Labbe, Swinburne University of Technology / R. Bezanson, University of Pittsburgh / A. Pagan, STScI.

Webb Reveals Never-Before-Seen Details of Abell 2744

Feb 16, 2023 by News Staff

Webb astronomers estimate 50,000 near-infrared sources are represented in the new image of the huge galaxy megacluster Abell 2744. This Webb image shows...

An artist’s impression of a supermassive black hole. Image credit: University of Hawai’i at Mānoa.

Astrophysicists Uncover First Observational Evidence of Cosmological Coupling

Feb 15, 2023 by News Staff

Cosmological coupling — a newly-predicted phenomenon in Albert Einstein’s theory of gravity — allows black holes to grow in mass without...

An artist’s impression of the four classes of planetary system architecture. Image credit: Tobias Stierli / NCCR PlanetS.

Astronomers Identify Four Classes of Planetary System Architecture

Feb 14, 2023 by News Staff

Dr. Lokesh Mishra and his colleagues from the University of Bern and Geneva Observatory propose that the space of planetary system architectures be partitioned...

This Hubble image shows SDSSCGB 10189, a trio of merging galaxies located in the constellation of Boötes. Further to the left is an unconnected, dimmer spiral galaxy. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / M. Sun.

Hubble Spots Trio of Colliding Star-Forming Galaxies

Feb 13, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have produced an outstanding image of a trio of merging galaxies called SDSSCGB 10189. This Hubble...