Articles by Enrico de Lazaro

Two spiral galaxies, NGC 6040 and NGC 6039, are merging together at the right side of this Hubble image. NGC 6039 is seen face-on and is circular in shape. NGC 6040 seems to lie in front of the first one. In the lower-left corner, cut off by the frame, the elliptical galaxy NGC 6041 -- a central member of the galaxy cluster that Arp 122 resides in -- appears as light radiating from a point. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the visible and infrared regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and the Dark Energy Camera, which is mounted on NSF’s Víctor M. Blanco 4-m telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. 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 / J. Dalcanton / Dark Energy Survey / DOE / FNAL / DECam / CTIO / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / L. Shatz.

Beautiful Collision of Two Spiral Galaxies Captured by Hubble: Arp 122

Jan 8, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

This cosmic encounter is known as Arp 122 and is seen here as imaged by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Two spiral galaxies, NGC 6040 and NGC 6039,...

Cyathophycus balori. Image credit: Botting et al., doi: 10.1016/j.geobios.2023.07.004.

Paleontologists Find 315-Million-Year-Old Sponge Fossil in Ireland

Jan 5, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

At more than 50 cm (20 inches) in height, the remarkable new species Cyathophycus balori is the largest known member of its genus Cyathophycus, and one...

Navifusa majensis microfossils: (a) Navifusa majensis from the McDermott Formation, Tawallah Supergroup, northern Australia; (b) Navifusa majensis from the Grassy Bay Formation, Shaler Supergroup, Arctic Canada; (c) Navifusa majensis from the BIIc6 Formation, Mbuji-Mayi Supergroup, DRC. Scale bars - 50 µm. Image credit: Demoulin et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06896-7.

Photosynthesis Evolved as Early as 1.75 Billion Years Ago, Microfossils Suggest

Jan 3, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

The earliest known evidence of photosynthetic structures has been identified inside a collection of the enigmatic cylindrical microfossils Navifusa majensis...

Life reconstruction of Unktaheela specta in its proposed habitat of sunlit waters just below the surface, with eyes shaded by supraorbital ledge. Image credit: Clark et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105812.

New Species of Plesiosaur Identified in United States

Jan 2, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have described a new genus and species of small polycotylid plesiosaur from two specimens found in Wyoming and South Dakota in the United...

Cerne Abbas Giant was Muster Station for West Saxon Armies, Archaeologists Say

Jan 2, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A huge, naked figure called Cerne Giant was cut into a Dorset hillside not, as many have supposed, in prehistory, nor in the early modern period, but in...

This Hubble image shows various distant galaxies in the constellation of Cetus: most of the galaxies are very small, but there are a few larger galaxies and some stars where detail can be made out; in the center there is an elliptical galaxy with a brightly glowing core and a broad disk; a reddish, warped ring of light, thicker at one side, surrounds its core; a small galaxy intersects the ring as a bright dot. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / H. Nayyeri / L. Marchetti / J. Lowenthal.

Hubble Sees Myriads of Distant Galaxies in Cetus

Jan 1, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new infrared image, taken with the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on board the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows dozens of galaxies — including...

An artist’s impression of the different layers inside a massive neutron star, with the red circle representing a sizable quark-matter core. Image credit: Jyrki Hokkanen, CSC.

Massive Neutron Stars Could Contain Cores Made of Deconfined Quark Matter

Dec 28, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Neutron-star cores contain matter at the highest densities in our Universe. This highly compressed matter may undergo a phase transition where nuclear...

An artist’s impression of the gas giant Kepler 1625b with its large moon, Kepler 1625b-i; the pair has a similar mass and radius ratio to the Earth-Moon system but scaled up by a factor of 11. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Kepler-1625b and Kepler-1708b are Unlikely to Be Orbited by Large Exomoons, Astronomers Say

Dec 27, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

There are more than 200 moons in our Solar System, but their relatively small sizes make similarly sized extrasolar moons (exomoons) very hard to detect...

This simulation illustrates a galaxy disk being disturbed, leading to the propagation of a seismic ripple throughout the disk. Image credit: Bland-Hawthorn & Tepper-Garcia, University of Sydney.

ALMA Detects Seismic Ripples in Disk of Ancient Barred Spiral Galaxy

Dec 26, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have observed a disk bending wave in BRI 1335-0417, the oldest known spiral galaxy...

This Hubble image shows four spiral galaxies in the constellation of Horologium: the large, prominent spiral galaxy on the right side of the image is NGC 1356; the two apparently smaller spiral galaxies flanking it are LEDA 467699 (above it) and LEDA 95415 (very close at its left) respectively; and finally, IC 1947 sits along the left side of the image. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / J. Dalcanton, Dark Energy Survey / DOE / FNAL / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / L. Shatz.

Hubble Spots Four Spiral Galaxies in Horologium

Dec 26, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

A stunning new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows a collection of galaxies — NGC 1356, LEDA 467699, LEDA 95415 and IC 1947 —...

Life reconstruction of Meilifeilong youhao. Image credit: Maurilio Oliveira.

New Species of Toothless Pterosaur Discovered in China

Dec 25, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists from China and Brazil have identified a new species of chaoyangopterid pterosaur from two specimens, one of which is the most complete...

An artistic reconstruction of Ferussina petofiana. Image credit: Márton Zsoldos.

72-Million-Year-Old Snail Fossil Uncovered in Romania

Dec 22, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new species of the extinct land snail genus Ferussina has been identified from a complete specimen found in Hațeg Basin, Romania. An artistic reconstruction...

This image of the asteroid Ryugu was captured by the Optical Navigation Camera - Telescopic (ONC-T) on JAXA’s Hayabusa-2 spacecraft on June 26, 2018, from a distance of 13.7 miles (22 km). Image credit: JAXA / University of Tokyo / Kochi University / Rikkyo University / Nagoya University / Chiba Institute of Technology / Meiji University / Aizu University / AIST.

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Asteroids Predate Our Solar System, New Study Shows

Dec 22, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomical observations show that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are abundant and widespread in the interstellar medium. PAH molecules consist...

The Running Chicken Nebula comprises several clouds, all of which we can see in this OmegaCAM/VST image. Image credit: ESO / VPHAS+ Team / CASU.

OmegaCAM Snaps Best Ever Image of Running Chicken Nebula

Dec 21, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the OmegaCAM instrument on ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope (VST) have captured the 1.5-billion-pixel image of a vast stellar nursery called...

This Hubble image shows UGC 8091, a dwarf irregular galaxy some 7 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo. The color image was made from separate exposures taken with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Yumi Choi, NSF’s NOIRLab / Karoline Gilbert, STScI / Julianne Dalcanton, Center for Computational Astrophysics & Flatiron Institute, University of Washington.

Hubble Takes Close Look at UGC 8091

Dec 20, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The Hubble team has released a close-up image of the dwarf irregular galaxy UGC 8091, which resembles a sparkling festive snow globe. This Hubble image...

Gremlin slobodorum. Image credit: Ddinodan / Sci.News.

New Herbivorous Dinosaur Species Identified in Canada

Dec 19, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have found the fossil of a previously unknown species of leptoceratopsid dinosaur that lived more than 70 million years ago in what is...

This Hubble image shows the galaxy cluster SDSS J1226+2152. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / J. Rigby / JWST TEMPLATES Team.

Webb Focuses on Gravitationally-Lensing Galaxy Cluster

Dec 19, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

SDSS J1226+2152, a huge galaxy cluster in the constellation of Coma Berenices, acts as a strong gravitational lens, causing light from distant galaxies...

This Webb image exquisitely captures the seasonal north polar cap of Uranus, including the bright, white, inner cap and the dark lane in the bottom of the polar cap. Uranus’ dim inner and outer rings are also visible in this image, including the elusive Zeta ring -- the extremely faint and diffuse ring closest to the planet. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI.

Webb Captures New Images of Uranus, Its Enigmatic Rings and Moons

Dec 18, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

New images from the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) instrument onboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope shows Uranus, its ring system and some...

This Hubble image shows MCG-01-24-014, an active spiral galaxy some 275 million light-years away in the constellation of Hydra. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / C. Kilpatrick

Hubble Space Telescope Snaps Beautiful Image of Active Spiral Galaxy

Dec 18, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

A dazzling new photo from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the bright spiral galaxy MCG-01-24-014, which is known to host an active galactic nucleus. This...

Birch composite frame saddle from Urd Ulaan Uneet, Mongolia (top left) and an artist’s reconstruction. Image credit: P. Lopez Calle.

1,600-Year-Old Wooden Saddle Unearthed in Mongolia

Dec 15, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

New archaeological discoveries from Mongolia show that, despite a fragmentary archaeological record, horse cultures of the eastern Eurasian steppe were...

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