Astronomy News

Universe is 13.77 Billion Years Old, Astronomers Say

This new picture of the Cosmic Microwave Background, the oldest light in the Universe, was taken by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope. This covers a swath of the sky 50 times as wide as the Moon, representing a region of space 20 billion light-years across. The light, emitted just 380,000 years after the Big Bang, varies in polarization (represented here by redder or bluer colors). Image credit: ACT Collaboration.
Jul 17, 2020 by News Staff

Astronomers using NSF’s Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) have taken a fresh look at the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), the oldest light in our Universe. Their new observations suggest that the Universe is 13.77 billion years old, give or take 40 million years. This estimate matches the one provided by the Standard Model of the Universe and measurements of the same light made by ESA’s Planck satellite. This new picture of the Cosmic Microwave...

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This two-panel illustration shows a black hole surrounded by a disk of gas, before and after the disk is partially dispersed. In the left panel, the ball of white light above the black hole is the black hole corona, a collection of ultra-hot gas particles that forms as gas from the disk falls into the black hole. The streak of debris falling toward the disk is what remains of a star that was torn apart by the black hole’s gravity. The right panel shows the black hole after the debris from the star has dispersed some of the gas in the disk, causing the corona to disappear. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Colliding Star Destroys Supermassive Black Hole’s Corona in Distant Galaxy

Jul 17, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers has watched as an X-ray corona of a supermassive black hole in the active galactic nucleus 1ES 1927+654 was abruptly...

The afterglow of GRB 181123B (marked with a circle), captured by the Gemini-North telescope. Image credit: Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / K. Paterson & W. Fong, Northwestern University / Travis Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage / Mahdi Zamani / Davide de Martin.

Short Gamma-Ray Burst Localized to Extremely Distant Galaxy

Jul 16, 2020 by News Staff

An international of astronomers has observed an optical afterglow of a short gamma-ray burst, thought to be from the merger of two neutron stars, and localized...

An artist’s impression of a thermonuclear supernova: the material ejected by the supernova will initially expand very rapidly, but then gradually slow down, forming an intricate giant bubble of hot glowing gas; eventually, the charred remains of the white dwarf that exploded will overtake these gaseous layers, and speed out onto its journey across our Milky Way Galaxy. Image credit: Mark Garlick / University of Warwick.

Thermonuclear Supernova Ejects White Dwarf from Binary System

Jul 15, 2020 by News Staff

A white dwarf star called SDSS J124043.01+671034.68 (SDSS J1240+6710) is traveling at 900,000 km/h (559,234 mph) through our Milky Way Galaxy. It also...

An artist’s impression of the immediate vicinity of the massive protostar G358.93-0.03-MM1. Image credit: Xi Chen, Guangzhou University / Zhi-Yuan Ren, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Science.

Astronomers Detect Spiral-Arm Structures around High-Mass Protostar

Jul 14, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

New observations of a high-mass protostar in the massive star-forming region G358.93-0.03 shed light on how these young stellar objects accumulate their...

ASKAP radio continuum image of ORC 1 (contours) overlaid onto a DES 3-color composite image. Two galaxies of interest: ‘C’ lies near the center of ORC 1 and ‘S’ coincides with the southern radio peak. Image credit: Norris et al, arXiv: 2006.14805.

New Class of Radio-Astronomical Objects Discovered: Odd Radio Circles

Jul 13, 2020 by Natali Anderson

An international team of astronomers has discovered an unexpected new class of radio-astronomical objects, consisting of a circular disk, which in some...

This Hubble image shows the free-floating evaporating gaseous globule J025027.7+600849. The color image is made up of observations from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) in the near-infrared and optical parts of the spectrum. Three 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 / R. Sahai.

Hubble Spots Rare ‘Free-Floating Evaporating Gaseous Globule’

Jul 13, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured an outstanding image of J025027.7+600849 (J0250 for short), a rare type of stellar...

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.

Astronomers Develop Method to Detect Tiny Black Holes in Outskirts of Our Solar System

Jul 13, 2020 by News Staff

Amir Siraj and Professor Avi Loeb from the Department of Astronomy at Harvard University have developed a new method to search for primordial black holes...

This image from the WISPR instrument on board NASA’s Parker Solar Probe shows comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) on July 5, 2020, shortly after its closest approach to the Sun. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins APL / Naval Research Lab / Parker Solar Probe / Brendan Gallagher.

Parker Solar Probe Sees Comet NEOWISE’s Twin Tails

Jul 10, 2020 by News Staff

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has captured unique images of comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) and its two tails. This image from the WISPR instrument on board NASA’s...

This image of C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) was captured on July 09, 2020 by Raman Madhira at Ray’s Astrophotography Observatory. Image credit: Raysastrophotograhy / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Comet NEOWISE Now Visible to the Unaided Eye

Jul 10, 2020 by News Staff

Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE), a recently-discovered visitor from distant parts of our Solar System, is putting on a spectacular nighttime display. This image...

An artist’s impression of the flaring red dwarf AD Leonis, also known as Gliese 388 and BD+20 2465. Image credit: National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.

Astronomers Observe Superflare on Nearby Red Dwarf AD Leonis

Jul 9, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of astronomers in Japan has detected 12 stellar flares, including a so-called superflare, on AD Leonis, an M-dwarf star located just 16 light-years...

Stellar streams arcing high over the Milky Way Galaxy are remnants of accreted dwarf galaxies and star clusters. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / R. Hurt, SSC & Caltech.

Astronomers Find Stellar Stream of Extragalactic Origin in the Vicinity of the Sun

Jul 9, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of astronomers from Israel and the United States has discovered a vast stream of 250 stars of extragalactic origin in the vicinity of our Solar...

Two Interacting Gas Giants Orbit Sun-Like Star WASP-148

Jul 9, 2020 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using the SuperWASP-North telescope on La Palma in the Canary Islands, Spain, and the SOPHIE spectrograph at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence,...

Dwarf planet Sedna. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / R. Hurt, SSC-Caltech.

New Research Helps Explain Peculiar Orbits and Clustering of Outer Solar System’s Detached Objects

Jul 8, 2020 by News Staff

Our Solar System contains a large population of icy bodies stretching well beyond the orbit of Neptune. These objects are remnants from the early formation...

An artist’s impression of a pair of orbiting white dwarfs, ZTF J153932.16+502738.8. Image credit: Caltech / IPAC.

White Dwarfs are Primary Source of Carbon in Milky Way, Astronomers Say

Jul 7, 2020 by News Staff

Astronomers have analyzed a few carbon-oxygen white dwarfs in Milky Way’s old open clusters, and their findings help shed new light on the origin of...

This composite image of Jupiter combines five JunoCam images taken on June 2, 2020, between 6:56 a.m. EDT (3:56 a.m. PDT) and 7:25 a.m. EDT (4:25 a.m. PDT). Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Kevin M. Gill / CC BY.

New Oval-Shaped Feature Spotted on Jupiter: Clyde’s Spot

Jul 6, 2020 by News Staff

An astronomer from South Africa has discovered a new ‘white oval’ in the southern hemisphere of the gas giant Jupiter. Jupiter as captured...

An artist’s impression of the super-Neptune exoplanet TOI-1728b. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Astronomers Find Largest Super-Neptune Yet around Red Dwarf Star

Jul 6, 2020 by Natali Anderson

Using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and several ground-based telescopes, astronomers have discovered and confirmed a warm super-Neptune...

This Hubble image shows the barred spiral galaxy NGC 7513. 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). Three 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 / M. Stiavelli.

Hubble Snaps Image of Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 7513

Jul 6, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a striking photo of a bright, barred spiral galaxy called NGC 7513. This Hubble image shows the barred...

An artist’s impression of the atmosphere of Antares. As seen with the naked eye (up until the photosphere), Antares is around 700 times larger than our sun, big enough to fill the Solar System beyond the orbit of Mars (Solar System scale shown for comparison). But ALMA and VLA showed that its atmosphere, including the lower and upper chromosphere and wind zones, reaches out 12 times farther than that. Image credit: NRAO / AUI / NSF / S. Dagnello.

Radio Telescopes Reveal Lukewarm Atmosphere of Nearby Red Supergiant Star Antares

Jul 3, 2020 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and NSF’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) have created the most detailed...

This multiwavelength mosaic, which combines more than 750 ALMA radio images and 9 Hubble infrared images, shows the star protocluster G286.21+0.17. ALMA reveals molecular clouds (purple) and Hubble reveals stars and glowing dust (yellow and red). Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / Y. Cheng et al / AUI / NSF / S. Dagnello / NASA / ESA / Hubble.

ALMA and Hubble Capture Celestial Fireworks in Massive Stellar Protocluster

Jul 2, 2020 by News Staff

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have observed G286.21+0.17, a massive...

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