Astronomy News

Study: Our Sun is Less Active than Other Solar-Type Stars

Flaring, active regions of the Sun are highlighted in this image combining observations from several telescopes. High-energy X-rays from NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) are shown in blue; low-energy X-rays from Japan’s Hinode spacecraft are green; and extreme ultraviolet light from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is yellow and red. All three telescopes captured their solar images around the same time on April 29, 2015. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / GSFC / JAXA.
May 1, 2020 by News Staff

Magnetic activity on the Sun leads to solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and other space weather that affects Earth. Similar activity on other stars may determine the habitability of any orbiting exoplanets. In a study published in the journal Science, an international team of scientists analyzed brightness variations of 369 solar-type stars to infer their activity levels and found that the Sun is less active than most of the solar-type stars in...

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Kluska et al provided model-independent reconstructed images of 15 protoplanetary disks selected from the Herbig AeBe survey carried out with PIONIER at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer. Image credit: Kluska et al, doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/201833774.

Astronomers Observe Inner Rims of Protoplanetary Disks around Young Massive Stars

Apr 30, 2020 by News Staff

Astronomers using the PIONIER (Precision Integrated-Optics Near-infrared Imaging ExpeRiment) instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer...

An artist’s illustration of the Kepler-88 planetary system. Image credit: Adam Makarenko / W.M. Keck Observatory.

Astronomers Find Long-Period Gas Giant around Kepler-88

Apr 29, 2020 by News Staff

Using the High-Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES) instrument on the 10-m Keck I telescope at W.M. Keck Observatory, astronomers have discovered a...

This artist’s impression shows how ULAS J1120+0641, a very distant quasar powered by a black hole with a mass two billion times that of the Sun, may have looked. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

New Measurements of Fine-Structure Constant Suggest Laws of Nature Not as Constant as Previously Thought

Apr 29, 2020 by News Staff

The fine-structure constant is a measure of electromagnetism — one of the four fundamental forces in nature; the others are gravity, weak nuclear...

Hubble resolved roughly 30 fragments of comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS) on April 20, 2020. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / D. Jewitt, University of California, Los Angeles / Q. Ye, University of Maryland.

Hubble Space Telescope Witnesses Breakup of Comet ATLAS

Apr 29, 2020 by News Staff

New images from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of the long-period comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS), taken on April 20 and 23, 2020, provide the sharpest views...

Chandra and XMM-Newton data indicate that a white dwarf survived a close call with the central black hole in GSN 069. Image credit: NASA / CXO / CSIC-INTA / G. Miniutti et al / CXC / M. Weiss.

Near-Miss Tidal Disruption: White Dwarf Survives Close Encounter with Supermassive Black Hole

Apr 28, 2020 by News Staff

Professor Andrew King from the University of Leicester has shown that periodic X-ray eruptions from a galaxy called GSN 069 could result from the core...

An artist’s impression of a rocky asteroid. Image credit: Mark A. Garlick, Space-art.co.uk / University of Warwick / University of Cambridge.

High-Inclination Centaur Asteroids Came from Interstellar Space: Study

Apr 28, 2020 by Natali Anderson

At least 17 high-inclination Centaurs and two trans-Neptunian objects were captured by the Solar System from the interstellar medium, according to a new...

This Hubble image shows a spiral galaxy called NGC 4100. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / L. Ho.

Hubble Looks at Stunning Spiral Galaxy: NGC 4100

Apr 27, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured a striking new photo of the spiral galaxy NGC 4100. This Hubble image shows a spiral...

This Hubble image shows the giant nebula NGC 2014 and its neighbor NGC 2020. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / STScI.

NASA and ESA Unveil Turbulent Stellar Nursery as Official Hubble 30th Anniversary Image

Apr 24, 2020 by News Staff

In celebration of the 30th anniversary of the launch of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers used the telescope to take a portrait of the giant...

This image, taken on April 20, 2020, shows fragments of C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS). Image credit: Quanzhi Ye & Man-To Hui.

Astronomers Observe Disintegrating Comet ATLAS

Apr 24, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and several ground-based telescopes, astronomers have been able to watch the long-period comet C/2019 Y4 (ATLAS)...

Simulation showing distribution of dark matter particles around a galaxy. Image credit: Gupta et al / ASTRO 3D / IllustrisTNG Collaboration.

Study: Massive Galaxies Grow Large by Eating Their Smaller Satellites

Apr 22, 2020 by News Staff

In a new study, an international team of astronomers led by ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3 Dimensions (ASTRO 3D) combined data...

Fomalhaut b Doesn’t Exist, Astronomers Say

Apr 21, 2020 by News Staff

The directly-imaged massive exoplanet Fomalhaut b is actually a dispersing cloud of dust, produced by a catastrophic collision between two large planetesimals...

Hubble captured this image of the interstellar comet 2I/Borisov on December 9, 2019. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / K. Meech, University of Hawaii / D. Jewitt, University of California, Los Angeles.

Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov Has Unusual Chemical Composition

Apr 21, 2020 by News Staff

Comets spend most of their lives at large distances from any star, during which time their interior compositions remain relatively unaltered. Cometary...

A simulated galaxy image from the FIRE-2 project, representing a structure spanning more than 200,000 light-years, shows the prominent plumes of young blue stars born in gas that was originally rotating and then blown radially outward by supernova explosions. Image credit: Sijie Yu / University of California Irvine.

Stars Born in Outflows May Populate Halos of Milky Way-Like Galaxies

Apr 20, 2020 by News Staff

Clusters of supernovas can cause the birth of scattered, eccentrically orbiting stars in outer halos of Milky Way-mass galaxies, according to new research...

This Hubble image shows the dwarf elliptical galaxy LEDA 29388. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / T. Armandroff.

Hubble Observes Little-Know Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy

Apr 20, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have obtained a remarkable view of the dwarf galaxy LEDA 29388. This Hubble image shows the dwarf...

Star Hurtling around Milky Way’s Central Black Hole Validates Einstein’s General Relativity

Apr 17, 2020 by News Staff

At the center of the Milky Way lurks Sagittarius A*, a supermassive black hole that is four million times the mass of the Sun. Located 26,000 light-years...

Red Dwarf Kepler-1649 Has Earth-Sized Exoplanet in Habitable Zone

Apr 16, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using data from NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope have discovered an Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone of a low-mass star called Kepler-1649. An...

V906 Carinae (circled) shines near peak brightness in this image taken on March 23, 2018, three days after the nova was discovered. The beautiful cloud of gas and dust dominating the picture is part of the Carina Nebula. Image credit: A. Maury / J. Fabrega.

Astronomers Track Shock Waves in Nova V906 Carinae

Apr 15, 2020 by News Staff

A nova is a sudden, short-lived brightening of an otherwise inconspicuous star. It occurs when a stream of hydrogen from a companion star flows onto the...

Astronomers Spot Most Powerful Supernova Explosion

Apr 15, 2020 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers has detected the brightest and most energetic known supernova: SN 2016aps. An artist’s illustration of a supernova....

An ‘Oumuamua-like object produced by a simulation of the tidal disruption scenario. Image credit: Y. Zhang / NAOC / M. Kornmesser / ESO.

New Theory Explains Odd Properties of Interstellar Object Oumuamua

Apr 14, 2020 by News Staff

A due of researchers used numerical simulations to show that interstellar objects like ‘Oumuamua, a fast moving, cigar-shaped object of extrasolar origin...

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