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This schematic shows the layers of Earth’s atmosphere, from the troposphere to the thermosphere. SOFIA observes from within the stratosphere and studied the ratio of main oxygen to heavy oxygen in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere, up to an altitude of about 200 km (124 miles). Image credit: NASA / SOFIA / L. Proudfit.

SOFIA Makes First Detection of Oxygen-18 in Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere of Earth

Mar 8, 2023 by News Staff

In the lower atmosphere of Earth, oxygen contains a higher fraction of the heavy isotope 18O than ocean water does. This enrichment is a signature of biological...

The demonstration of the metalens telescope proves the exciting potential lying in the metasurfaces and could bring new possibilities for areas involving large optical systems, including geosciences, planetary observation, and astrophysical science. Image credit: Zhang et al., doi: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.2c03561.

Scientists Create First Ultrathin, Compact Metalens Telescope Capable of Imaging Far-Away Objects

Mar 7, 2023 by News Staff

Metalenses promise potential for a paradigm shift of conventional optical devices. They comprise tiny, antenna-like surface patterns that can focus light...

Davies et al. shed new light on the state of the Universe 13 billion years ago by measuring the density of carbon in the gases surrounding ancient galaxies. Image credit: Swinburne University of Technology.

Astronomers Measure Amount of Carbon around Galaxies in Early Universe

Mar 7, 2023 by News Staff

New research led by the Swinburne University of Technology shows that the amount of warm carbon suddenly increased by a factor of five over a period of...

This OmegaCAM/VST image shows IC 4701, an emission nebula located in the constellation of Sagittarius. Image credit: ESO / VPHAS+ team / Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit.

VLT Survey Telescope Sees Newly-Born Stars in IC 4701

Mar 7, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope have produced a spectacularly detailed image of the emission nebula IC 4701. This OmegaCAM/VST image shows...

An artist’s impression of a stellar-mass black hole in a binary system. Image credit: Education University of Hong Kong.

Astronomers Find Evidence for Dark Matter Density Spikes around Stellar-Mass Black Holes

Mar 6, 2023 by News Staff

It has been suggested for a long time that dark matter would form a density spike around a black hole. However, no promising evidence has been observed...

This Hubble image shows NGC 5486, an irregular spiral galaxy located 110 million light-years away in the constellation of Ursa Major. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / C. Kilpatrick.

Hubble Space Telescope Focuses on NGC 5486

Mar 6, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured an amazing photo of the irregular spiral galaxy NGC 5486. This Hubble image shows NGC...

An artist’s rendering of two brown dwarfs. Image credit: Roberto Molar Candanosa & Sergio Dieterich, Carnegie Institution for Science.

Astronomers Discover Exceptionally Short Period Ultracool Dwarf Binary System

Mar 3, 2023 by News Staff

The members of the LP 413-53AB system are so close that it takes just 17 hours to revolve around each other. An artist’s rendering of two brown dwarfs....

RCW 86, the tattered shell of SN 185, was captured by the Dark Energy Camera, which is mounted on the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Víctor M. Blanco 4-m telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. Image credit: CTIO / NOIRLab / DOE / NSF / AURA / T.A. Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage & NSF’s NOIRLab / J. Miller, Gemini Observatory & NSF’s NOIRLab / M. Zamani & D. de Martin, NSF’s NOIRLab.

Dark Energy Camera Observes Glowing Remnant of SN 185

Mar 2, 2023 by News Staff

Supernova (SN) 185 occurred in 185 CE in the direction of Alpha Centauri, between the constellations of Circinus and Centaurus, and remained visible to...

Illustration of the quasar triplet system and its environment. Image credit: Ni et al., doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/aca160.

New Study Sheds Light on Origin of Ultramassive Black Holes in Early Universe

Mar 2, 2023 by News Staff

Ultramassive black holes with extreme masses of over 50 billion solar masses can be formed in the rare events that are multiple quasar mergers happening...

This image shows Tycho’s SNR, which is located between 8,000 and 10,000 light-years away in the constellation of Cassiopeia. IXPE data (dark purple and white) have been combined with data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (red and blue) and overlaid with the stars in the field of view as captured by the Digitized Sky Survey. Image credit: IXPE / NASA / ASI / MSFC / INAF / Ferrazzoli et al. / Chandra / CXC / RIKEN / GSFC / Sato et al. / DSS / SAO / K. Arcand, L. Frattare & N. Wolk.

IXPE Detects Polarized X-Rays from Tycho’s Supernova Remnant

Mar 2, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) — a collaboration between NASA and the Italian Space Agency — have observed...

Multiwavelength detection of the X3 system with NIRC2 instrument at the W.M. Keck Observatory in 2019. Image credit: Peißker et al., doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/aca977.

Massive Protostar Spotted near Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole

Mar 1, 2023 by Natali Anderson

X3a is approximately 10 times larger than the Sun, 15 times as massive, and is only several tens of thousands of years old. Multiwavelength detection of...

SPT0418-47 is gravitationally lensed by a foreground galaxy, appearing in the sky as a near-perfect ring of light -- a so-called Einstein ring. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / Rizzo et al.

Dusty, Chemically Mature Galaxy Spotted in Early Universe

Feb 28, 2023 by News Staff

The newly-discovered galaxy, SPT0418-SE, and its much larger companion, SPT0418-47, reside in a massive dark-matter halo with yet-to-be-discovered neighbors,...

This Hubble image shows the spiral galaxy NGC 5033. The image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). It is based on data obtained through two filters. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Judy Schmidt, www.geckzilla.com.

ALMA Detects Supermassive Black Hole in Early Star-Forming Galaxy

Feb 28, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) have detected a rapidly growing supermassive black hole in COS-87259, a galaxy that forms stars...

Morphology evolution of X7’s thermal dust emission between 2002 and 2021: the images are oriented with equatorial north at the top and with Sagittarius A* positioned in the upper left corner of each panel. Image credit: Ciurlo et al., doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/acb344.

Astronomers Observe Elongated Object near Milky Way’s Central Black Hole

Feb 27, 2023 by News Staff

An elongated dust and gas feature named X7 has a mass of about 50 Earth masses and is on an orbital path around Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black...

This Hubble image shows JO201 (also known as Ka 364, LEDA 2456 and LEDA 93189), a jellyfish galaxy located in the constellation of Cetus. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / M. Gullieuszik.

Hubble Finds Star-Forming Clumps in Six Jellyfish Galaxies

Feb 27, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have observed clumps of star formation in the tails and disks of six ram-pressure stripped (jellyfish)...

Two dwarf-dwarf galaxy mergers in galaxy clusters Abell 133 (left) and Abell 1758S (right) are shown in X-rays from Chandra and optical light from the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope. The merger on the left is in a late stage and was given the single name of Mirabilis. The other merger is in the early stages and the two dwarf galaxies are named Elstir (bottom) and Vinteuil (top). Image credit: NASA / CXC / University of Alabama / Micic et al. / International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA.

Chandra Spots Two Pairs of Supermassive Black Holes on Collision Courses

Feb 23, 2023 by News Staff

According to observations and cosmological simulations, dwarf galaxies are the most abundant type of galaxies in the early Universe and the galaxy merger...

This candidate massive galaxy could contain as many stars as our present-day Milky Way. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / I. Labbe, Swinburne University of Technology / G. Brammer, Niels Bohr Institute’s Cosmic Dawn Center, University of Copenhagen.

Webb Discovers Impossibly Massive Galaxies in Early Universe

Feb 22, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have observed six candidate galaxies with stellar masses as high as 1011 solar masses about...

This artist’s conception shows two supermassive black holes, similar to those observed by Bansal et al, orbiting one another more than 750 million light years from Earth. Image credit: Josh Valenzuela, University of New Mexico.

Novel Model Paves Way for Deeper Understanding of Structure of Merging Black Holes

Feb 22, 2023 by News Staff

In 2015, astrophysicists for the first time detected gravitational waves, ripples in space-time that occur when neutron star or black hole mergers disrupt...

This false-color image shows the dwarf planet Ceres. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.

New Study Sheds Light on Origin and Evolution of Ceres-Like Asteroids

Feb 21, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) telescope at Mauna Kea Observatory have captured and analyzed visible and near-infrared reflectance...