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This Hubble image shows the Whirlpool Galaxy (NGC 5194) and its companion galaxy, NGC 5195. Image credit: NASA / ESA / S. Beckwith, STScI / Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA.

Astronomers Spot Giant Cloud of Ionized Hydrogen near Whirlpool Galaxy

May 17, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

A research team led by Case Western Reserve University astronomers has found a never-before seen cloud of ionized gas associated with the Whirlpool Galaxy,...

This Hubble image shows the bipolar planetary nebula Menzel 3. Image credit: NASA / ESA/ Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA / R. Sahai, Jet Propulsion Lab / B. Balick, University of Washington.

Herschel Detects Unusual Laser Emission from Ant Nebula

May 17, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers using ESA’s Herschel Space Observatory have discovered an unusual laser emission from the planetary nebula Menzel 3 (often referred to as...

Astronomers Find Evidence for Stars Forming Only 250 Million Years after Big Bang

May 17, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers has used observations from ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array...

This image from the VISTA Hemispheric Survey shows the ultra-luminous quasar SMSS J215728.21-360215.1 (center). Image credit: Wolf et al.

Scientists Find ‘Fastest-Growing’ Supermassive Black Hole Known in Universe

May 16, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

A supermassive black hole in the center of the ultra-luminous quasar SMSS J215728.21-360215.1 (J2157-3602 for short) devours a mass equivalent to our Sun...

Artistic impression of a Multiverse. Image credit: Jaime Salcido / EAGLE Collaboration.

Multiverse Might Not Be as Inhospitable to Life as Previously Thought

May 15, 2018 by News Staff

Questions about whether other universes might exist as part of a larger Multiverse, and if they could harbor life, are burning issues in modern cosmology....

The Musca molecular cloud. Image credit: Naskies / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Astronomers Find ‘Vibrating’ Interstellar Cloud

May 14, 2018 by News Staff

A team of astronomers from the Australian National University and the University of Crete has determined the 3D structure of the interstellar molecular...

NGC 1032. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Space Telescope Spies Spiral Galaxy Edge-On

May 14, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows NGC 1032, a spiral galaxy seen almost edge-on. NGC 1032. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble. NGC...

This artist’s impression depicts IGR J17062–6143. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

NASA’s Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer Finds Pulsar in Ultracompact Orbit

May 11, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) have found evidence that an accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar called IGR...

This artist’s impression shows 2004 EW95, the first carbon-rich asteroid confirmed to exist in the Kuiper Belt and a relic of the primordial Solar System. 2004 EW95 likely formed in the main asteroid belt and has been flung billions of miles from its origin to its current home in the Kuiper Belt. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Astronomers Find First Carbon-Rich Asteroid in Kuiper Belt: 2004 EW95

May 9, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers has found that a small Kuiper Belt object called 2004 EW95 is a carbonaceous (carbon-rich) asteroid — the first...

An artist’s illustration of a planetary nebula. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Sun at End of Its Life Will Turn into Faint Planetary Nebula, Astronomers Predict

May 9, 2018 by News Staff

Planetary nebulae — massive rings of luminous, interstellar gas and dust — mark the end of the active life of 90% of all stars. But, for years,...

WASP-96b periodically transits WASP-96 (also known as 2MASS J00041112-4721382), a Sun-like star 980 light years away in the southern constellation Phoenix. Image credit: © Sci-News.com.

Hot Gas Giant WASP-96b Has Cloud-Free Atmosphere, Astronomers Say

May 7, 2018 by News Staff

A group of astronomers from Ireland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States has found that the atmosphere of the exoplanet WASP-96b...

This Hubble image shows the rich galaxy cluster RXC J0032.1+1808. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / RELICS.

Hubble Space Telescope Spots Rich Galaxy Cluster

May 7, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

Galaxy clusters are some of the most massive structures that can be found in the Universe — giant groupings of galaxies bound together by gravity....

The Chandra image (right) shows the inner region of NGC 6231 where red, green, and blue represent low, medium, and high-energy X-rays; the brightest X-ray emission is white. An infrared image from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey explorer is shown on the left. Image credit: NASA / CXC / University of Valparaiso / M. Kuhn et al / WISE / JPL.

NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory Observes Young Cluster NGC 6231

May 4, 2018 by News Staff

First discovered by Italian mathematician and priest Giovanni Battista Hodierna in 1654, NGC 6231 is a young star cluster located in the constellation...

An artist’s impression of WASP-107b. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / M. Kornmesser.

Helium Detected in Atmosphere of Exoplanet for First Time

May 3, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers has detected helium — the second-most abundant element in the Universe after hydrogen — in the atmosphere...

An artist’s concept of a star-forming cloud. Image credit: © Sci-News.com.

New Study Casts Doubt on Currently Accepted Theories of Star Formation

May 1, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers has found that long-held assumptions about the relationship between the mass of star-forming clouds of dust and gas...

In the upper part of this Hubble image, the light from distant galaxies has been smeared and twisted into odd shapes, arcs, and streaks. This phenomenon indicates the presence of a massive galaxy cluster, SDSS J0150+2725, which is bending the light coming from the galaxies behind it with its monstrous gravitational influence. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Judy Schmidt, www.geckzilla.com.

Hubble Space Telescope Sees Giant Galaxy Cluster

Apr 30, 2018 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a fantastic photo of a massive galaxy cluster named SDSS J0150+2725. In the upper part of this Hubble...

Ryder et al used Hubble to get the first image of a surviving companion to a supernova; this is the most compelling evidence that some supernova explosions originate in binary star systems. Image credit: NASA / ESA / S. Ryder, Australian Astronomical Observatory / O. Fox, STScI.

Hubble Snaps Image of Surviving Binary Companion to Type IIb Supernova

Apr 27, 2018 by News Staff

On December 10, 2001 Australian amateur astronomer Robert Evans discovered a supernova in the outer edge of NGC 7424, a spiral galaxy located in the southern...

Gaia’s all-sky view of our Milky Way Galaxy and neighboring galaxies, based on measurements of nearly 1.7 billion stars. Brighter regions indicate denser concentrations of especially bright stars, while darker regions correspond to patches of the sky where fewer bright stars are observed. The color representation is obtained by combining the total amount of light with the amount of blue and red light recorded by Gaia in each patch of the sky. The bright horizontal structure that dominates the image is the Galactic plane, the flattened disc that hosts most of the stars in our home Galaxy. In the middle of the image, the Galactic center appears vivid and teeming with stars. Darker regions across the Galactic plane correspond to foreground clouds of interstellar gas and dust, which absorb the light of stars located further away, behind the clouds. Many of these conceal stellar nurseries where new generations of stars are being born. Sprinkled across the image are also many globular and open clusters -- groupings of stars held together by their mutual gravity, as well as entire galaxies beyond our own. The two bright objects in the lower right of the image are the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, two dwarf galaxies orbiting the Milky Way. In small areas of the image where no color information was available -- to the lower left of the Galactic center, to the upper left of the Small Magellanic Cloud, and in the top portion of the map -- an equivalent grayscale value was assigned. Image credit: ESA / Gaia / DPAC.

ESA’s Gaia Mission Releases Catalog of Nearly 1.7 Billion Stars

Apr 26, 2018 by News Staff

ESA’s Gaia mission has released the largest catalogue ever of Milky Way stars. It includes the positions on the sky for approximately 1.7 billion stars,...

This artist’s impression of SPT2349-56 shows a group of interacting and merging galaxies in the early Universe. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Astronomers Discover Two Massive Protoclusters of Young Galaxies in Early Universe

Apr 26, 2018 by News Staff

Peering deep into space — an astounding 90% of the way across the observable Universe — two groups of astronomers led by University of Edinburgh’s...