Astronomy News

Webb Determines Atmospheric Makeup of Sub-Neptune TOI-421b

An artist’s impression of the sub-Neptune exoplanet TOI-421b. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Dani Player, STScI.
May 6, 2025 by News Staff

Sub-Neptunes are high-occurrence exoplanets that have no solar system analog. Much smaller than gas giants and typically cooler than hot-Jupiter exoplanets, these worlds were extremely challenging to observe before the launch of the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. Many of sub-Neptunes appear to be very highly obscured by clouds and hazes, which have made it impossible to determine their atmospheric makeup. Now, astronomers using Webb have...

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An artist’s impression of a blazar. Image credit: DESY / Science Communication Lab.

Physicists Develop Novel Quantum Theory of Gravity

May 5, 2025 by News Staff

The new theory, developed by physicists at Aalto University, describes gravity in a way that’s compatible with the Standard Model of particle physics,...

This Hubble image shows NGC 3596, an intermediate spiral galaxy some 90 million light-years away in the constellation of Leo. The color image is made up of observations from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 WFC3) in the ultraviolet, near-infrared, and optical parts of the spectrum. It is based on data obtained through six filters. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / D. Thilker.

Hubble Looks at Face-On Intermediate Spiral Galaxy

May 5, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

A beautiful new photo from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the spiral galaxy NGC 3596. This Hubble image shows NGC 3596, an intermediate spiral...

This Hubble image shows the spiral galaxy NGC 1961. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / J. Dalcanton / R.J. Foley, UC Santa Cruz / C. Kilpatrick.

Hubble Space Telescope Captures Distorted Spiral Galaxy: NGC 1961

Apr 28, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

The Hubble team has released a stunning new image snapped by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of the massive spiral galaxy NGC 1961. This Hubble image...

This artist’s impression shows the evolution of the Universe beginning with the Big Bang on the left followed by the appearance of the Cosmic Microwave Background. The formation of the first stars ends the cosmic dark ages, followed by the formation of galaxies. Image credit: M. Weiss / Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Gravity is Result of Computational Process within Our Universe, Physicist Says

Apr 28, 2025 by News Staff

University of Portsmouth physicist Melvin Vopson proposes a new way to think about gravity — not just as a pull, but as something that happens when...

The Eos cloud sits on the edge of the Local Bubble, a large gas-filled cavity in space that encompasses the Solar System. Image credit: Thomas Müller, HdA & MPIA / Thavisha Dharmawardena, NYU.

Astronomers Detect Huge Molecular Hydrogen Cloud near Our Solar System

Apr 28, 2025 by News Staff

Long invisible to astronomers, the newly-discovered molecular cloud is one of the largest single structures in the sky and among the closest to the Sun...

A high-energy photonic jet (white and blue) blasts through a collapsar with a black hole at its center; the red space around the jet represents the cocoon where free neutrons may be captured causing the r-process, the nucleosynthesis that results in the formation of heavy elements. Image credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Stars Dissolve into Neutrons to Form Heavy Elements, Study Suggests

Apr 24, 2025 by News Staff

High-energy photons produced deep in gamma-ray burst jets emerging from a collapsed star could dissolve the outer stellar layers into free neutrons, causing...

This illustration shows an exoplanet orbiting around two brown dwarfs. Image credit: ESO / M. Kornmesser.

Astronomers Discover Polar Circumbinary Exoplanet around Pair of Brown Dwarfs

Apr 23, 2025 by News Staff

The newly-discovered planet orbits at an angle of 90 degrees around 2MASS J15104786-2818174 (hereafter 2M1510), an eclipsing binary composed of two equal-mass...

An artist’s impression of a disintegrating exoplanet around a giant star. Image credit: Jose-Luis Olivares, MIT.

Astronomers Discover Disintegrating Exoplanet with Prominent Comet-Like Tails

Apr 22, 2025 by News Staff

Using data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), astronomers at MIT have discovered a rocky exoplanet orbiting the bright K-dwarf...

In shaping the Universe, gravity builds a vast cobweb-like structure of filaments tying galaxies and clusters of galaxies together along invisible bridges hundreds of millions of light-years long. This is known as the cosmic web. Image credit: Springel et al. / Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics.

Universe Could Rotate Once Every 500 Billion Years, Study Suggests

Apr 22, 2025 by News Staff

New research led by University of Hawai’i astronomers suggests our Universe may rotate — just extremely slowly. In shaping the Universe, gravity...

This Webb image shows Messier 83. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / A. Adamo, Stockholm University / FEAST JWST Team.

Webb Finds Evidence for Active Supermassive Black Hole in Messier 83

Apr 21, 2025 by News Staff

Highly ionized neon gas detected at the center of the spiral galaxy Messier 83 by the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) aboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb...

This Hubble image shows Messier 72, a globular cluster some 50,000 light-years away in the constellation of Aquarius. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / A. Sarajedini / G. Piotto / M. Libralato.

Hubble Takes Closer Look at Globular Cluster Messier 72

Apr 21, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

As part of Hubble’s 35th anniversary celebrations, astronomers have obtained a stunning new image of a rich collection of scattered stars called Messier...

An artist’s impression of the super-Earth exoplanet K2-18b. Image credit: A. Smith / N. Mandhusudhan.

Webb Detects Possible Biosignature Gases in Atmosphere of K2-18b

Apr 17, 2025 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have detected the chemical fingerprints of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and/or dimethyl disulfide...

This Hubble image shows Messier 104, a galaxy located 28 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / K. Noll.

Hubble Space Telescope Revisits Messier 104

Apr 16, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

In anticipation of the upcoming 35th anniversary of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, the Hubble team has released a beautiful new image of the Sombrero...

This image of Zhúlóng, the most distant spiral galaxy discovered to date, shows its remarkably well-defined spiral arms, a central old bulge, and a large star-forming disk, resembling the structure of the Milky Way. Image credit: NASA / CSA / ESA / M. Xiao, University of Geneva / G. Brammer, Niels Bohr Institute / Dawn JWST Archive.

Webb Discovers Milky Way-Like Spiral Galaxy in Early Universe

Apr 16, 2025 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have discovered an ultra-massive grand-design spiral galaxy that existed just one billion...

Double-prism device with thin film in between shown as dark light absorbing plane -- mimicking a gravitational black hole. Image credit: Nina Vaidya, University of Southampton.

Newly-Developed Optical Device Mimics Black and White Gravitational Holes

Apr 16, 2025 by News Staff

In general relativity, a gravitational white hole is a hypothetical region of space that cannot be entered from outside. It is the reverse of a black hole...

An artist’s impression of a magnetar. Image credit: ESA.

Runaway Magnetar is Traversing Milky Way from Unknown Place of Origin, Astronomers Say

Apr 15, 2025 by NASA

SGR 0501+4516 is the likeliest candidate in our Milky Way Galaxy for a magnetar that was not born in a supernova explosion as initially predicted; the...

This Webb image shows the planetary nebula NGC 1514. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / Michael Ressler, JPL / Dave Jones, IAC.

Webb Captures Best Ever Image of Planetary Nebula NGC 1514

Apr 15, 2025 by News Staff

NGC 1514’s two central stars, which appear as one in the image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, formed this scene over thousands of...

This image of 2024 YR4 was captured with the Gemini South telescope in Chile, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, partly funded by NSF and operated by NOIRLab. Image credit: International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / M. Zamani.

Near-Earth Asteroid 2024 YR4 Likely Originated in Main Belt

Apr 14, 2025 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on the Gemini South telescope have determined that the recently-discovered near-Earth asteroid...

This Hubble image shows Messier 77, a barred spiral galaxy some 62 million light-years away in the constellation of Cetus. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) instruments. It is based on data obtained through six filters. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / L.C. Ho / D. Thilker.

Hubble Space Telescope Snaps New Image of Messier 77

Apr 14, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA has released an incredibly beautiful image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope of the barred spiral galaxy Messier 77. This Hubble image shows Messier...

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