Astronomy News

Record-Breaking Cosmic Burst Caused by Stellar-Mass Black Hole Shredding Its Companion

This composite image features X-ray and optical data of the LFBOT event AT 2024wpp. Image credit: NASA / CXC / UC Berkeley / Nayana et al. / Legacy Survey / DECaLS / BASS / MzLS / SAO / P. Edmonds / N. Wolk.
Dec 16, 2025 by News Staff

Using data gathered by a suite of space- and ground-based telescopes, astronomers have discovered AT 2024wpp, the most luminous fast blue optical transient (LFBOT) ever observed. These rare, brief, and intensely bright outbursts have puzzled scientists for a decade, but the extreme brightness and detailed multiwavelength data from AT 2024wpp show that they cannot be explained by any kind of normal stellar explosion such as a supernova. Instead, the...

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This artist’s concept shows what PSR J2322-2650b may look like. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Ralf Crawford, STScI.

Webb Detects Exotic Helium-and-Carbon-Rich Atmosphere around Pulsar-Orbiting Exoplanet

Dec 16, 2025 by News Staff

PSR J2322-2650b, an enigmatic Jupiter-mass exoplanet orbiting the millisecond pulsar PSR J2322-2650, appears to have an exotic helium-and-carbon-dominated...

A primordial supermassive star in the early Universe. Image credit: Gemini AI.

Astronomers Find Direct Evidence for Supermassive Stars in Early Universe

Dec 15, 2025 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have discovered chemical fingerprints of primordial stars weighing between 1,000 and 10,000...

This Hubble image shows NGC 4388, a spiral galaxy some 59 million light-years in the constellation of Virgo. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / S. Veilleux / J. Wang / J. Greene.

Hubble Space Telescope Revisits NGC 4388

Dec 15, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has produced an outstanding new image of the highly inclined spiral galaxy NGC 4388. This Hubble image shows NGC 4388,...

This XMM-Newton image shows an X-ray view of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. At the center of the image, a bright red spot stands out against a dark background, like a fiery beacon. Starting from this core, faint gradients of purple and blue spread outward, creating a slightly rotated rectangular frame, divided by a thin horizontal line, the detector gap. The red color shows low-energy X-rays, blue marks empty space with very few X-rays. Image credit: ESA / XMM-Newton / C. Lisse / S. Cabot / XMM ISO Team.

XMM-Newton Offers Incredible X-ray View of Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

Dec 12, 2025 by News Staff

Astronomers using ESA’s XMM-Newton observatory have captured an X-ray image of 3I/ATLAS, the third confirmed interstellar object to be detected passing...

3I/ATLAS streaks across stars and galaxies in this image captured by the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on the Gemini North telescope on Maunakea in Hawai’i, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, partly funded by NSF and operated by NSF’s NOIRLab. Image credit: International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / B. Bolin / J. Miller & M. Rodriguez, International Gemini Observatory & NSF’s NOIRLab / T.A. Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage & NSF’s NOIRLab / M. Zamani, NSF’s NOIRLab.

Gemini North Telescope Captures New Images of 3I/ATLAS

Dec 12, 2025 by News Staff

On November 26, 2025, astronomers used the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on the Gemini North telescope at Maunakea in Hawai’i to obtain images...

This artist’s concept shows what TOI-561b and its star could look like. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Ralf Crawford, STScI.

Webb Detects Thick Atmosphere on Ultrahot Super-Earth TOI-561b

Dec 11, 2025 by News Staff

The new observations with the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope suggest that TOI-561b is surrounded by a thick blanket of gases above a global magma...

Uranus could be an ice giant (left) or a rock giant (right) depending on the model assumptions. Image credit: Keck Institute for Space Studies / Chuck Carter.

New Research Challenges Classification of Uranus and Neptune as Ice Giants

Dec 11, 2025 by News Staff

The composition of Uranus and Neptune might be less icy than previously thought, according to a new study by University of Zürich scientists. Uranus could...

Webb identified the source of a super bright flash of light known as a gamma-ray burst: a supernova that exploded when the Universe was only 730 million years old. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / A. Levan, IMAPP / A. Pagan, STScI.

Webb Detects Earliest-Known Supernova Explosion

Dec 10, 2025 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have discovered a supernova explosion accompanying the gamma-ray burst event GRB 250314A...

Characterization of a presolar spinel-hibonite grain from the asteroid Bennu. Image credit: Nguyen et al., doi: 10.1038/s41550-025-02688-3.

Scientists Find Presolar Stardust in Samples from Asteroid Bennu

Dec 10, 2025 by News Staff

Researchers have detected an unexpectedly high abundance of presolar grains — dust from stellar explosions predating our Solar System — in...

An artist’s impression of the flaring, windy supermassive black hole in NGC 3783. Image credit: ESA / ATG Europe.

Astronomers Spot Extraordinary Blast from Supermassive Black Hole in NGC 3783

Dec 9, 2025 by News Staff

Using ESA’s XMM-Newton and the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM), a JAXA-led mission with ESA and NASA participation, astronomer have observed...

A figure illustrating the rotation of neutral hydrogen (right) in galaxies residing in an extended filament (middle), where the galaxies exhibit a coherent bulk rotational motion tracing the large-scale cosmic web (left). Image credit: Lyla Jung.

Astronomers Discover 50-Million-Light-Year-Long Spinning Cosmic Web Filament

Dec 8, 2025 by News Staff

The newly-discovered galaxy filament spans at least 50 million light-years and resides 140 million light-years away. The galaxies are orbiting around the...

This Hubble image shows the blue compact dwarf galaxy Markarian 178. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / F. Annibali / S. Hong.

Hubble Space Telescope Zooms in on Markarian 178

Dec 8, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured an amazing new photo of the blue compact dwarf galaxy Markarian 178. This Hubble image...

This image of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS was taken by Hubble on November 30, 2025. At the time, the comet was about 286 million km (178 million miles) from Earth. Image credit: NASA / ESA / STScI / D. Jewitt, UCLA / M.-T. Hui, Shanghai Astronomical Observatory / J. DePasquale, STScI.

Hubble Takes New Look at Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

Dec 5, 2025 by Natali Anderson

The Hubble team has released a stunning new image snapped by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, which is only the...

This image from ESA’s Juice spacecraft shows the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. Image credit: ESA / Juice / NavCam / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

ESA’s Juice Spacecraft Beams Back New Image of 3I/ATLAS

Dec 4, 2025 by News Staff

During November 2025, ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice) used five of its science instruments to observe 3I/ATLAS, the second interstellar comet...

Psyche acquired four observations of 3I/ATLAS over the course of eight hours on September 8 and 9, 2025. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU.

Psyche Observes Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

Dec 3, 2025 by Natali Anderson

NASA’s Psyche spacecraft have acquired new images of 3I/ATLAS, the third object and the second comet from outside the Solar System confirmed. Psyche...

An artist’s impression of the exoplanet WASP-107b. Image credit: University of Geneva / NCCR PlanetS / Thibaut Roger.

Webb Detects Giant Clouds of Helium Leaking from WASP-107b

Dec 1, 2025 by News Staff

Using high-precision spectroscopic observations from the Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) onboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space...

This Hubble image shows the active spiral galaxy NGC 1792. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / D. Thilker / F. Belfiore / J. Lee / PHANGS-HST Team.

Hubble Space Telescope Captures New Image of NGC 1792

Dec 1, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

NGC 1792 is a stormy and highly active spiral galaxy located in the southern constellation of Columba. This Hubble image shows the active spiral galaxy...

This image, captured by the Gemini South telescope, shows the planetary nebula NGC 6302. Image credit: International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. Miller & M. Rodriguez, International Gemini Observatory & NSF’s NOIRLab / T.A. Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage & NSF’s NOIRLab / M. Zamani, NSF’s NOIRLab.

Gemini South Telescope Focuses on Butterfly Nebula

Nov 28, 2025 by News Staff

To celebrate 25 years since the completion of the International Gemini Observatory, students in Chile voted for the Gemini South telescope to image the...

An artist’s impression of Quaoar and its two rings. Quaoar’s moon Weywot is shown on the left. Image credit: ESA / Sci.News.

Trans-Neptunian Object Quaoar Has Two Moons, New Study Suggests

Nov 24, 2025 by Natali Anderson

The newly-discovered moon has an estimated diameter of 38 km (23.6 miles) and a V magnitude of 28, likely making it the faintest satellite ever found around...

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