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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.

First Generation of Stars Emerged 250-350 Million Years after Big Bang, Astronomers Say

Jun 24, 2021 by News Staff

A team of astronomers from the United Kingdom and the United States has examined six of the most distant galaxies currently known and found that the distance...

This artist’s impression shows the view from the surface of one of the exoplanets in the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system. Image credit: ESO / M. Kornmesser / Spaceengine.org.

Alien Astronomers around 2,034 Nearby Stars Have Front-Row Seat to See Earth as Transiting Exoplanet

Jun 24, 2021 by News Staff

A team of astronomers from Cornell University and the American Museum of Natural History has identified 1,715 stars within 100 parsecs (326 light-years)...

This image of the open star cluster Westerlund 2 and its surroundings has been released to celebrate Hubble’s 25th year in orbit. The image’s central region, containing the star cluster, blends visible-light data taken by the Advanced Camera for Surveys and near-infrared exposures taken by the Wide Field Camera 3. The surrounding region is composed of visible-light observations taken by the Advanced Camera for Surveys. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA / A. Nota / Westerlund 2 Science Team.

SOFIA Observes Stellar Wind-Driven Bubble around Westerlund 2

Jun 23, 2021 by News Staff

Using data from NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) telescope, astronomers analyzed the movement of carbon atoms in an expanding...

Siraj & Loeb explore the possibility that accretion flares resulting from the tidal disruption of small Oort Cloud bodies by a putative primordial black hole could power an observable optical signal that could be searched for with the upcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time. Image credit: Sci-News.com / Zdeněk Bardon / ESO.

Does Self-Interacting Dark Matter Produce Seed Black Holes?

Jun 21, 2021 by News Staff

Astrophysical observations show that supermassive black holes exist when the Universe is just 800 million years old after the Big Bang (just 6% of its...

This Hubble image shows the interacting galaxy system IC 1623. The color image is made up of observations from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) in the ultraviolet, infrared, and optical parts of the spectrum. It is based on data obtained through eight filters. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / R. Chandar.

Hubble Watches Cataclysmic Cosmic Collision: IC 1623

Jun 21, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured an amazing new photo of the interacting galaxy system IC 1623. This Hubble image shows...

This Hubble image shows NGC 1052-DF2, an ultra-diffuse galaxy located 72 million light-years away in the constellation of Cetus. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / STScI / Zili Shen & Pieter van Dokkum, Yale University / Shany Danieli, IAS / Alyssa Pagan, STScI.

Astronomers Confirm Existence of Dark-Matter-Deficient Galaxies

Jun 18, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

In a new study, astronomers used data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to calculate a more accurate distance to an ultra-diffuse galaxy called...

This artist’s impression was generated using an image of Betelgeuse from 2019 taken with the SPHERE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. Image credit: ESO / NASA / ESA / Hubble / M. Kornmesser.

Dust Cloud Caused Betelgeuse’s Great Dimming Event, Astronomers Say

Jun 17, 2021 by News Staff

Betelgeuse, which is located roughly 724 light-years away in the constellation of Orion, is the second-closest red supergiant to Earth. From November 2019...

An artist’s impression of a galactic wind driven by a supermassive black hole located in the center of a galaxy. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO.

ALMA Detects Powerful Black-Hole Wind in Distant Quasar

Jun 17, 2021 by News Staff

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have detected a galactic-scale supermassive black hole-driven wind in HSC J124353.93+010038.5...

The Giant Arc: the gray contours represent the Mg II absorbers, which indicate the distribution of galaxies and galaxy clusters; the blue dots represent the background quasars; the Giant Arc is centered on this figure spanning -600 to +400 Mpc on the x-axis. Image credit: Lopez et al.

3.3-Billion-Light-Year-Long Arc of Galaxies Discovered

Jun 16, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers from the United States and the United Kingdom has made the discovery of a giant, almost symmetrical arc of galaxies...

An artist’s impression of cosmic filaments. Image credit: A. Khalatyan/ J. Fohlmeister / Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam.

Astronomers Spot Spinning Filaments of Galaxies

Jun 16, 2021 by News Staff

Cosmic filaments are cylindrical tendrils of matter hundreds of millions of light-years across. In new research, published in the journal Nature Astronomy,...

An artist’s conception of the Milky Way Galaxy. Image credit: Pablo Carlos Budassi / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Milky Way’s Dark Matter Halo is Slowing Down Galactic Bar’s Spin, Astronomers Say

Jun 15, 2021 by News Staff

According to new research by astronomers from the University of Oxford and University College London, the spin of the bar of our Milky Way Galaxy —...

Sloan Digital Sky Survey archival image from March 2004 (left) and the image from the observation campaign of B2 1420+32 taken by Mishra et al. in January 2020 using ASAS-SN (right); the blazar’s brightness increased by a factor of 100. Image credit: SDSS / Mishra et al., doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/abf63d.

‘Changing-Look’ Blazar Spotted 6.3 Billion Light-Years Away

Jun 14, 2021 by News Staff

Astronomers have performed photometric and spectroscopic observations of B2 1420+32, a blazar with a collection of ‘changing-look’ features. Sloan...

This Hubble image shows NGC 3254, a spiral galaxy located some 118 million light-years away in the constellation of Leo Minor. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the visible and infrared regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). Four 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 / Riess et al.

Hubble Space Telescope Looks at NGC 3254

Jun 14, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have taken a detailed image of a spectacular part of the spiral galaxy NGC 3254. This Hubble image...

Two Giant Exoplanets Found around Sun-Like Star

Jun 11, 2021 by News Staff

Professional astronomers and citizen scientists from the NASA-funded Planet Hunters TESS project have discovered a two-planet system around the bright...

An artist’s impression of the VVV-WIT-08 binary system. Image credit: Amanda Smith, University of Cambridge.

Giant ‘Blinking’ Star Spotted in Milky Way’s Central Region

Jun 11, 2021 by News Staff

A giant star called VVV-WIT-08 exhibited a smooth, eclipse-like drop in brightness to a depth of 97% in 2012; minimum brightness occurred in April 2012...

An artist’s impression of FRB 110523 reaching Earth; the colors represent the burst arriving at different radio wavelengths, with long wavelengths (red) arriving seconds after short wavelengths (blue). Image credit: Jingchuan Yu / Beijing Planetarium.

CHIME Telescope Discovers 535 New Fast Radio Bursts

Jun 11, 2021 by News Staff

The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) has detected 535 new fast radio bursts — including 18 repeating sources — during...

An artist’s rendering of the Neptune-like exoplanet TOI-1231b. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Neptune-Like Exoplanet Found Circling Nearby Red Dwarf

Jun 10, 2021 by Sergio Prostak

Astronomers using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) have discovered a temperate, Neptune-sized planet orbiting the M-dwarf star TOI-1231. An...

The open star cluster NGC 2516. Image credit: Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg / SIMBAD / DSS2.

Open Cluster NGC 2516 is at least 1,600 Light-Years Long, Study Shows

Jun 9, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

A young open cluster called NGC 2516 has a classical tidal radius of 10 parsecs (33 light-years) and a halo of stars spanning at least 500 parsecs (1,600...

This image, taken by the FORS2 instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope, shows the grand design spiral galaxy Messier 99. It is based on data obtained through four filters. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: ESO.

VLT Observes Grand Design Spiral Galaxy Messier 99

Jun 7, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

ESO has released a beautiful photo taken by the FOcal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrograph 2 (FORS2) on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) of the spiral...