Astronomy News

New Class of Cosmic Explosions Discovered: Fast Blue Optical Transients

An artist’s conception illustrates the phenomena that make up the new class of cosmic explosions called fast blue optical transients. Image credit: Bill Saxton / NRAO / AUI / NSF.
May 28, 2020 by News Staff

Fast blue optical transients (FBOTs) share some characteristics with supernova explosions of massive stars and with explosions that generate gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), but still have distinctive differences from each. Three FBOTs are currently known: AT2018cow (‘The Cow’ or SN 2018cow), CSS161010 and ZTF18abvkwla (‘The Koala’). An artist’s conception illustrates the phenomena that make up the new class of cosmic explosions called fast blue...

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An artist’s impression of a perturbation in the velocities of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy that was revealed by ESA’s star mapping mission Gaia. Image credit: ESA.

Collision between Milky Way and Its Satellite May Have Triggered Formation of Our Solar System

May 26, 2020 by News Staff

Repeated collisions with the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy may have triggered major star formation episodes in our Milky Way Galaxy, one of which roughly coincided...

An artist’s impression of the collisional ring galaxy R5519. Image credit: James Josephides, Swinburne Astronomy Productions.

Astronomers Find Giant Collisional Ring Galaxy in Early Universe

May 26, 2020 by Sergio Prostak

Astronomers have spotted a giant galaxy with a massive star-forming ring that existed 10.8 billion years ago. An artist’s impression of the collisional...

This SPHERE image shows TYC 8998-760-1b. Image credit: Bohn et al, doi: 10.1093/mnras/stz3462.

Astronomers Directly Image Giant Planet-Like Object around Sun-Like Star

May 25, 2020 by Natali Anderson

Using three instruments on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), an international team of astronomers has discovered and imaged a giant sub-stellar object...

This Hubble image shows the barred spiral galaxy NGC 3895. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / R. Barrows.

Hubble Space Telescope Observes NGC 3895

May 25, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured this vivid image of a barred spiral galaxy called NGC 3895. This Hubble image shows the barred spiral...

This image shows the Jupiter trojan asteroid 2019 LD2. Image credit: ATLAS.

Astronomers Spot First Trojan Asteroid with Comet-Like Tail: 2019 LD2

May 22, 2020 by News Staff

2019 LD2 is the first known Jupiter trojan asteroid to display cometary activity with a visible coma and tail, according to a team of astronomers from...

Cosmic rays. Image credit: Pierre Auger Observatory.

Cosmic Rays May Have Played Key Role in Origin of Life’s Handedness

May 21, 2020 by News Staff

Living organisms comprise a system of molecules organized with specific handedness. Handedness — or chirality — is the geometric property of...

This image from VLT’s SPHERE instrument shows the protoplanetary disk around AB Aurigae. Image credit: ESO / Boccaletti et al.

Astronomers Witness Ongoing Planet Formation in AB Aurigae System

May 21, 2020 by News Staff

Astronomers using the SPHERE (Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet Research) instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have observed a protoplanetary...

An artist’s impression of DLA0817g (Wolfe Disk), a massive, rotating disk galaxy in the early, dusty Universe. Image credit: NRAO / AUI / NSF / S. Dagnello.

Massive, Rotating Disk Galaxy Spotted 12.3 Billion Light-Years Away

May 20, 2020 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have found evidence for the most distant rotationally supported disk galaxy ever...

This image shows protoplanets PDS 70b and PDS 70c (labeled with white arrows) with the circumstellar disk removed. Image credit: J. Wang, Caltech.

Astronomers Capture New Images of Two Protoplanets around PDS 70

May 19, 2020 by News Staff

Using the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRC2) on the Keck II telescope at W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea in Hawaii, astronomers have directly imaged two infant...

Kipping uses Bayesian statistics to shed light on how extraterrestrial life might evolve in the Universe. Image credit: Dina Dee.

Astronomer Uses Bayesian Statistics to Weigh Likelihood of Complex Life and Intelligence beyond Earth

May 19, 2020 by News Staff

In a new study published this week in the Proceeding of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. David Kipping of Columbia University and Flatiron Institute...

An artist’s impression of the super-Earth exoplanet HD 164922d. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Hot Super-Earth Discovered Orbiting Ancient Star

May 18, 2020 by Natali Anderson

An international team of astronomers has discovered a close-in super-Earth exoplanet in the HD 164922 planetary system. An artist’s impression of the...

This Hubble image shows the isolated dwarf galaxy ESO 461-036. This image is made up of observations from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) in the infrared and optical parts of the spectrum. 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 / E. Shaya et al.

Hubble Spots Lonely Dwarf Galaxy

May 18, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a striking new photo of a dwarf irregular galaxy called ESO 461-036. This Hubble image shows the isolated...

These two columns show side-by-side comparisons of gravitational lens candidates imaged by the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey (color) and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (black and white). Image credit: Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey / NASA / ESA / Hubble / Huang et al.

Astronomers Discover Hundreds of New Strong Gravitational Lenses

May 15, 2020 by News Staff

Using data from the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey (DECaLS), astronomers have discovered 335 new candidate strong lensing systems. These two columns...

An artist’s impression of a Delta Scuti star. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

TESS Detects Elusive Pulsation Patterns in Delta Scuti Stars

May 14, 2020 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) have detected pulsation patterns in the so-called Delta Scuti stars, a large group...

Comet SWAN makes its closest approach to Earth on May 13, 2020, at a distance of 85 million km (53 million miles); its closest approach to the Sun, called perihelion, will happen on May 27, 2020. Image credit: NASA / ESA / SOHO.

SOHO Discovers New Comet: C/2020 F8 (SWAN)

May 13, 2020 by News Staff

Officially classified C/2020 F8 (SWAN) but nicknamed comet SWAN, the new comet was first spotted in April 2020 by Australian amateur astronomer Michael...

An artist’s impression of a super-Earth exoplanet. Image credit: NASA.

Very Distant Super-Earth Discovered Through Microlensing

May 12, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers have discovered a super-Earth exoplanet orbiting a dwarf star or a brown dwarf around 7,580 parsecs (24,723 light-years) from Earth. An artist’s...

Abell 2384 contains the giant structures that can result when two galaxy clusters collide. A superheated gas bridge is seen in this composite image with X-rays from Chandra and XMM-Newton (blue), radio emission from the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (red) and optical data from the Digitized Sky Survey (yellow). This multi-wavelength view reveals the effects of a jet shooting away from a supermassive black hole in the center of a galaxy in one of the clusters. The jet is so powerful that it is bending the shape of the gas bridge, which extends for over 3 million light-years and has the mass of about 6 trillion solar masses. Image credit: NASA / CXC / SAO / V. Parekh et al / ESA / XMM-Newton / NCRA / GMRT.

Astronomers Spot Enormous Bridge of Hot Gas between Two Galaxy Clusters

May 11, 2020 by News Staff

Astronomers using ESA’s XMM-Newton and NASA’s Chandra X-ray observatories have observed a 3-million-light-year-long bridge of hot gas linking two unequal...

This Hubble image shows NGC 5861, an intermediate spiral galaxy located some 85 million light-years away in the constellation of Libra. The image is made up of observations from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) in the infrared and optical parts of the spectrum. It is based on data obtained through four filters. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / A. Riess et al.

Hubble Captures Stunning Image of NGC 5861

May 11, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a picture of a spiral galaxy called NGC 5861. This Hubble image shows NGC 5861, an intermediate spiral galaxy...

An artist’s illustration of WASP-79b. Image credit: NASA / ESA / L. Hustak, Space Telescope Science Institute.

Hot-Jupiter Exoplanet WASP-79b Has Yellow Skies

May 9, 2020 by News Staff

Using data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, and Magellan II Telescope at Las Campanas Observator in Chile, astronomers...

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