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This deep field image from the Dark Energy Survey is teeming with galaxies; in fact, nearly every single object in this image is a galaxy; some exceptions include a couple of dozen asteroids as well as a few handfuls of foreground stars in our own Milky Way Galaxy. Image credit: Dark Energy Survey / DOE / FNAL / DECam / CTIO / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / T.A. Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage & NOIRLab / M. Zamani, NOIRLab / D. de Martin, NOIRLab.

Dark Energy Survey Makes Most Precise Measurements Yet of Universe’s Composition and Growth

May 31, 2021 by News Staff

Over the course of six years, astronomers with the Dark Energy Survey (DES) surveyed 5,000 square degrees — almost one-eighth of the entire sky —...

This Hubble image shows the spiral galaxy NGC 691. The image includes optical and infrared observations from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) instrument. 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 / A. Riess / M. Zamani.

Hubble Captures Striking New Image of NGC 691

May 31, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured an absolutely beautiful photo of a spiral galaxy called NGC 691. This Hubble image shows the spiral galaxy...

This panorama shows the central region of the Milky Way Galaxy. It builds on previous surveys from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes, and expands Chandra’s high-energy view farther above and below the plane of the Galaxy than previous imaging campaigns. X-rays from Chandra are orange, green, and purple, showing different X-ray energies, and the radio data from MeerKAT are gray. Image credit: NASA / CXC / UMass / Q.D. Wang / NRF / SARAO / MeerKAT.

New Map Reveals X-Ray-Emitting Threads and Plume-Like Structures near Milky Way’s Center

May 28, 2021 by News Staff

Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa, an astronomer from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst has...

This Hubble image shows the trailing arms of the spiral galaxy NGC 2276. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). It is based on data obtained through five filters. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / P. Sell / L. Shatz.

Hubble Spots Magnificent Interacting Galaxy: NGC 2276

May 27, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shot this image of a spiral galaxy called NGC 2276. This Hubble image shows the trailing arms of the spiral galaxy...

The 3D density map of the local dark matter: X-mark at the center denotes the Milky Way Galaxy; dots denote galaxies, and arrows denote estimated directions of motion derived from the gradient of the reconstructed gravitational potential. Image credit: Hong et al., doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/abf040.

New Map of Local Dark Matter Reveals ‘Bridges’ between Galaxies

May 26, 2021 by News Staff

A team of astrophysicists from the United States and Korea has created a new dark-matter distribution map using a neural network-based deep learning method...

This image shows the Milky Way-like galaxy UGC 10738. Image credit: Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg / SIMBAD / PanSTARRS.

Milky Way Galaxy Evolved Gradually, Astronomers Say

May 25, 2021 by News Staff

Astronomers the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on ESO’s Very Large Telescope have observed UGC 10738, a nearby, edge-on Milky Way-like galaxy,...

TESS Discovers Jupiter-Sized Exoplanet around Ancient Binary Star

May 24, 2021 by Natali Anderson

The newfound circumbinary planet, named TIC 172900988b, is slightly larger than Jupiter and transits both of its host stars, according to a paper to be...

This Hubble image shows NGC 5037, a spiral galaxy some 91 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / D. Rosario / L. Shatz.

Hubble Looks at Stunning Spiral Galaxy: NGC 5037

May 24, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a picture of the nearly edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 5037. This Hubble image shows NGC 5037, a spiral galaxy...

The meteoroid stream of long-period comet Thatcher from CAMS data; outer blue ellipse is the orbit of Neptune. Image credit: P. Jenniskens / SETI Institute.

Long-Period Comets Can Cause Meteor Showers on Earth, Astronomers Say

May 21, 2021 by News Staff

Dr. Peter Jenniskens of the SETI Institute and NASA’s Ames Research Center and his colleagues say they can detect meteor showers from the debris in the...

This picture of Neptune was produced from the last whole planet images taken through the green and orange filters on the narrow angle camera of NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft. The images were taken at a range of 7.1 million km (4.4 million miles) from the planet, 4 days and 20 hours before closest approach. The picture shows the Great Dark Spot and its companion bright smudge; on the west limb the fast moving bright feature called Scooter and the little dark spot are visible. These clouds were seen to persist for as long as Voyager’s cameras could resolve them. North of these, a bright cloud band similar to the south polar streak may be seen. Image credit: NASA / JPL.

ALMA Detects Hydrogen Cyanide Belt in Stratosphere of Neptune

May 21, 2021 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have produced a detailed map of intensity and abundance of gaseous hydrogen cyanide...

ALMA detected the emission from carbon ions in the BRI 1335-0417 galaxy. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / T. Tsukui & S. Iguchi, doi: 10.1126/science.abe9680.

ALMA Spots Candidate for Most Distant Known Spiral Galaxy

May 20, 2021 by News Staff

The star-forming disk galaxy with a two-armed spiral morphology, named BRI 1335-0417, existed when the Universe was just 1.4 billion years old. ALMA detected...

An artist’s impression of a pulsar. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

FAST Radio Telescope Discovers 201 New Pulsars

May 20, 2021 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) have discovered 201 pulsars, including currently the faintest pulsars...

Iron and Nickel Detected in Atmospheres of Solar System Comets

May 20, 2021 by News Staff

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope have detected neutral atoms of two heavy metals — iron (Fe I) and nickel (Ni I) — in the atmospheres...

This image shows the spectrum of the interstellar comet 2I/Borisov on the bottom right superimposed to a real photo of the comet taken with ESO’s Very Large Telescope in 2019; the lines of nickel are indicated by orange dashes. Image credit: ESO / L. Calçada / O. Hainaut / P. Guzik & M. Drahus.

Astronomers Detect Nickel in Coma of Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov

May 19, 2021 by Natali Anderson

Using spectroscopic observations from ESO’s Very Large Telescope, a duo of astronomers from Poland has detected atomic nickel vapor in the cold coma...

An impression of the encounter between the Milky Way and the Sausage dwarf galaxy. Image credit: V. Belokurov / Juan Carlos Muñoz / ESO.

New Research Sheds Light on Formation History of Milky Way

May 18, 2021 by News Staff

Recent results based on data from ESA’s Gaia mission have revealed that the stellar content of the inner halo of our Milky Way Galaxy is dominated by...

Sketch of the relative positions of NASA’s and ESA’s spacecraft that observed the February 12, 2021 coronal mass ejections; ESA’s Solar Orbiter spacecraft was ‘behind’ the Sun from the perspective of Earth; the Earth was about 12 degrees west of Sun-center as seen from Solar Orbiter; ESA’s Proba-2, which orbits the Earth, and the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), which is located in orbit around the Lagrange point 1, 1.5 million km in front of the Earth towards the Sun, also viewed the coronal mass ejection; NASA’s STEREO-A (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) also caught a glimpse of the event from its viewpoint away from the direct Sun-Earth line; together the spacecraft provide valuable, different perspectives on the same event. Image credit: ESA.

Solar Orbiter Observes Two Huge Eruptions on Sun

May 18, 2021 by News Staff

The Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI), the Heliospheric Imager (SoloHI) and the Metis coronagraph onboard the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter captured different...

This image, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows the massive galaxy cluster ACO S 295. The image is made up of observations from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) instruments in the infrared and optical parts of the spectrum. Seven 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 / F. Pacaud / D. Coe.

Hubble Spots Massive Cluster of Galaxies: ACO S 295

May 17, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

The Hubble team has released an incredibly beautiful shot of ACO S 295, a massive galaxy cluster located some 3.5 billion light-years away in the small...

This visible-light image of Jupiter was created from data captured on January 11, 2017 using Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3. Near the top, a long brown feature called a ‘brown barge’ extends 72,000 km (nearly 45,000 miles) in the east-west direction. The Great Red Spot stands out prominently in the lower left, while the smaller feature nicknamed Red Spot Jr. (known to Jovian scientists as Oval BA) appears to its lower right. Image credit: NASA / ESA / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / Wong et al. / de Pater et al. / M. Zamani.

Astronomers Capture Stunning New Images of Jupiter

May 12, 2021 by News Staff

Three images of Jupiter from the 8-m Frederick C. Gillett Gemini North telescope at the Gemini Observatory and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope show...

This image, taken with ESO’s Very Large Telescope, shows the HII region DG121, which is also known as RCW 7, GAL 232.62+01.00, and IRAS 07299-1651. The brightest star in DG121, seen near the center in the picture, is HD 60068. Image credit: ESO.

VLT Observes Huge Cloud of Ionized Hydrogen

May 11, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope have taken a picture of DG121, a HII region located in the constellation of Puppis. This image, taken with...