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An artist’s impression of a habitable planetary system. Image credit: Sci.News.

Technosignatures Could Be How We First Find Extraterrestrial Life, Astronomers Say

Oct 24, 2022 by The Conversation

Penn State astronomers Macy Huston and Jason Wright work on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). They try to characterize and detect technosignatures...

This composite image shows Messier 99, a grand design spiral galaxy located 42 million light-years away in the constellation of Coma Berenices. Image credit: ESO / PHANGS.

ESO Releases Incredible Image of Messier 99

Oct 24, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

This stunning image shows the well-defined arms of the grand design spiral galaxy Messier 99. This composite image shows Messier 99, a grand design spiral...

This Hubble image shows NGC 1999, a reflection nebula some 1,350 light-years away in the constellation of Orion. The image also contains data from the OmegaCAM instrument on ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / ESO / K. Noll.

Hubble Spies Mysterious Reflection Nebula

Oct 24, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

The Hubble science team has released an incredibly beautiful close-up shot of the reflection nebula NGC 1999. This Hubble image shows NGC 1999, a reflection...

At the top right of the image, there are arrows indicating the direction of impact by NASA’s DART spacecraft. The direction of impact arrow points in the 10 o’clock direction. The ‘to Sun’ arrow points in the 8 o’clock direction. At the bottom right are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The north arrow points in the directly straight up. The east arrow points to the left in the 9 o’clock direction. Image credit: NASA / ESA / STScI / Jian-Yang Li, PSI / Joseph DePasquale.

Asteroid Moonlet Dimorphos Develops Two Tails after DART Impact

Oct 23, 2022 by News Staff

A new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows two tails of dust ejected from the 160-m-wide asteroid moonlet Dimorphos, which orbits a larger,...

An artist’s impression of the super-Earth Gliese 1252b and its parent star. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Super-Earth Gliese 1252b Has No Significant Atmosphere, Study Says

Oct 21, 2022 by News Staff

Gliese 1252b, a super-Earth exoplanet that orbits an M-dwarf star 67 light-years away, retains only a tenuous mineral exosphere. An artist’s impression...

An artist’s impression of TOI-3757b and its parent star. Image credit: NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. da Silva / Spaceengine / M. Zamani.

Inflated Jupiter-Sized Exoplanet Found Orbiting Cool Red Dwarf

Oct 21, 2022 by Natali Anderson

TOI-3757b is the lowest-density transiting exoplanet known to orbit an M-dwarf (red dwarf) star. An artist’s impression of TOI-3757b and its parent star....

This image shows the extremely red quasar SDSS J165202.64+172852.3. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / D. Wylezalek, A. Vayner & Q3D Team / N. Zakamska.

Webb Observes Extremely Red Quasar and Its Environment in Early Universe

Oct 20, 2022 by News Staff

The red quasar the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope observed, called SDSS J165202.64+172852.3 (SDSSJ1652 for short), resides in a very dense environment...

This image shows the location of the binary system Gaia DR3 4373465352415301632. Image credit: Sloan Digital Sky Survey / Chakrabart et al.

Astronomers Discover Stellar-Mass Black Hole 1,550 Light-Years Away

Oct 20, 2022 by Natali Anderson

The newly-discovered black hole resides in the binary system Gaia DR3 4373465352415301632 with a main-sequence star that is slightly smaller than the Sun....

This mosaic is composed of images covering the entire sky, taken by WISE as part of WISE’s 2012 All-Sky Data Release; by observing the entire sky, WISE can search for faint objects, like distant galaxies, or survey groups of cosmic objects. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA.

NEOWISE Mission Produces Time-Lapse Movie of Entire Sky

Oct 20, 2022 by News Staff

Using 18 all-sky maps produced by NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide Field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE), astronomers have created what is essentially...

This image from Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera shows the Pillars of Creation. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / Joseph DePasquale, STScI / Anton M. Koekemoer, STScI / Alyssa Pagan, STScI.

Webb Takes Close Look at Pillars of Creation

Oct 19, 2022 by News Staff

Protostars are the scene-stealers in this new image of the Pillars of Creation from the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) instrument aboard the NASA/ESA/CSA...

This composite image shows the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, a structure resulting from the explosion of a star in the constellation of Cassiopeia. The blues represent data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, the turquoise is from IXPE, and the gold is courtesy of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Image credit: NASA / CXC / SAO / NASA / MSFC / Vink et al. / STScI.

IXPE Maps Polarized X-Rays from Cassiopeia A

Oct 18, 2022 by News Staff

Cassiopeia A is a remnant that blew up as a supernova approximately 11,000 years ago. This composite image shows the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, a...

An artist’s illustration of what the near-Earth asteroid Phaethon might look like up close. Image credit: Heather Roper.

Astronomers Measure Change in Rotation Period of Near-Earth Asteroid Phaethon

Oct 18, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

3200 Phaethon, one of the largest potentially hazardous asteroids, rotates once every 3.6 hours, and that rotation period is decreasing by about 4 milliseconds...

An artist’s conception of Haumea, its moons Hi’iaka and Namaka, and its ring system; the moons are much more distant than depicted here. Image credit: Pablo Carlos Budassi.

New Research Sheds More Light on Formation and Evolution of Dwarf Planet Haumea

Oct 18, 2022 by News Staff

The dwarf planet Haumea resides in the Kuiper Belt beyond the orbit of the outermost planet Neptune. An artist’s conception of Haumea, its moons Hi’iaka...

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.

Astronomers Identify Peculiar Twisting Motion in Binary Black Hole System

Oct 18, 2022 by News Staff

This is the first time such an effect, known as precession, has been seen in black holes, where the twisting is 10 billion times faster than in previous...

An artist’s impression of a gas-giant exoplanet. Image credit: Sci.News.

TESS Spots Giant Exoplanet around 11-Billion-Year-Old Star

Oct 17, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Using data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and several ground-based telescopes, astronomers have detected and characterized...

Two wispy, gaseous clouds occupy the corners of this image, HH 1 in the upper right, and HH 2 in the lower left. Both are light blue and surrounded by dimmer multi-colored clouds, while the background is dark black due to dense gas. A very bright orange star lies just to the lower left of HH 1, and beyond that star is a narrow jet, emerging from the dark center of the field. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / B. Reipurth / B. Nisini.

Hubble Observes Two Distant Herbig-Haro Objects

Oct 17, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Herbig-Haro objects HH 1 and HH 2 are located 1,250 light-years away in the constellation of Orion. Two wispy, gaseous clouds occupy the corners of this...

Astronomers think GRB 221009A represents the birth of a new black hole formed within the heart of a collapsing star. In this illustration, the black hole drives powerful jets of particles traveling near the speed of light. The jets pierce through the star, emitting X-rays and gamma rays as they stream into space. Image credit: NASA / Swift / Cruz deWilde.

Astronomers Detect Record-Breaking Gamma-Ray Burst

Oct 16, 2022 by News Staff

GRB 221009A, a gamma-ray burst detected on October 9, 2022, is one of the nearest and possibly the most-energetic gamma-ray burst ever observed. It occurred...

An artist’s impression of a jet emanating from NGC 4993. Image credit: J.A. Biretta et al / NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA / Sci-News.com.

Hubble Observes Ultra-Relativistic Jet from Neutron-Star Merger

Oct 14, 2022 by News Staff

GW170817, a titanic collision between two neutron stars detected in August 2017, ejected a structured relativistic jet with a speed greater than 99.97%...

This artist’s impression shows an ultrahot exoplanet as it is about to transit in front of its host star. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Barium Detected in Atmospheres of Two Ultrahot Jupiters

Oct 13, 2022 by News Staff

Barium, a chemical element with the symbol Ba and atomic number 56, is the heaviest element detected to date in any exoplanetary atmosphere. This artist’s...