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A volume rendering of the ionized gas wind in the Makani galaxy. Two of the dimensions are spatial, and the third is velocity. The colors trace the velocity axis, shown by the arrow at center. The approximate locations of the two proposed outflow episodes are labeled. Image credit: Jim Geach, David Tree & Peter Richardson, University of Hertfordshire.

Astronomers Observe Giant Outflow of Gas Extending Far Beyond Compact Galaxy

Oct 31, 2019 by News Staff

The direct evidence of the role of galactic winds — ejections of gas from galaxies — in creating the so-called circumgalactic medium has been...

An artist’s impression of a hot-Jupiter exoplanet. Image credit: C. Carreau / ESA.

TESS Finds ‘Improbable’ Exoplanet Circling Red-Giant Star

Oct 31, 2019 by News Staff

Using asteroseismic data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an international team of astronomers revised the parameters for two...

Super-Neptune Discovered Just 12 Light-Years Away

Oct 30, 2019 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers have discovered a super-Neptune exoplanet orbiting a star in the binary system Gliese 15. An artist’s impression of two exoplanets orbiting...

ESO’s Very Large Telescope captured this image of NGC 1404 with its FORS (FOcal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrograph) instrument; the bright foreground star to the lower left of the frame is named HD 22862. Image credit: ESO.

ESO Releases Stunning Image of Elliptical Galaxy NGC 1404

Oct 30, 2019 by News Staff

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has released a gorgeous new image taken by ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) of a giant elliptical galaxy called...

This Hubble image shows young globular clusters (blue) and filaments of cool gas (red) around NGC 1275 in the center of the Perseus cluster (also known as Abell 426), a group of over 1,000 galaxies located 240 million light-years from Earth. Image credit: Lim et al, doi: 10.1038/s41550-019-0909-6.

Astronomers Find Thousands of Young Globular Clusters around Perseus Cluster’s Central Galaxy

Oct 29, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

Many thousands of compact and massive star clusters have formed at an approximately steady rate over the past one billion years around NGC 1275, the central...

This image, taken by the SPHERE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope, shows the main-belt asteroid Hygiea. Image credit: ESO / P. Vernazza et al / MISTRAL algorithm / ONERA / CNRS.

Astronomers Measure Size and Shape of Main-Belt Asteroid Hygiea

Oct 29, 2019 by News Staff

Hygiea is the fourth largest main belt asteroid and the only known asteroid whose surface composition appears similar to that of the dwarf planet Ceres....

This Hubble image captures two galaxies of equal size in a titanic head-on collision. This observation was made on June 19, 2019 in visible light by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / J. Dalcanton, B.F. Williams & M. Durbin, University of Washington.

Hubble Spots Stunning Ring Galaxy System

Oct 28, 2019 by News Staff

NASA has released a breathtaking image snapped by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of the Arp-Madore 2026-424 system. This Hubble image captures two...

This composite image shows Abell 1758, a quadruple galaxy cluster system about 3 billion light-years away from Earth. In the northern (top) pair seen in the image, the centers of each cluster have already passed by each other once, about 300 to 400 million years ago, and will eventually swing back around. The southern pair at the bottom of the image has two clusters that are close to approaching each other for the first time. X-rays from Chandra are shown as blue and white, depicting fainter and brighter diffuse emission, respectively. This image also includes an optical image from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Image credit: NASA / CXC / SAO / G. Schellenberger et al / SDSS.

Chandra Observes Mega-Merger of Galaxy Clusters: Abell 1758

Oct 28, 2019 by News Staff

Using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have created detailed maps of Abell 1758, a collision between two pairs of galaxy clusters,...

This Hubble image shows the face-on spiral galaxy NGC 1706. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the visible and infrared regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). Two filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Imager credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / A. Bellini et al.

Hubble Looks at Beautiful Spiral: NGC 1706

Oct 28, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured an amazing new photo of a face-on galaxy called NGC 1706. This Hubble image shows the face-on spiral galaxy...

SOFIA Spots Debris from Catastrophic Collision between Two Rocky Exoplanets

Oct 25, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) have observed an unusually warm, dusty debris disk around BD +20 307,...

Digital art by Les Bossinas, Cortez III Service Corp., 1998.

Physicists Propose New Method to Detect Traversable Wormholes

Oct 24, 2019 by News Staff

In a new paper published this month in the journal Physical Review D, a duo of theoretical physicists from Case Western Reserve University, the University...

Freshly-Synthesized Strontium Detected in Neutron Star Merger

Oct 23, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have detected a freshly made heavy element, strontium, in the aftermath of GW170817, a merger of two...

Massive Star-Forming Galaxy Spotted in Early Universe

Oct 23, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) have discovered faint traces of a huge dust-obscured star-forming galaxy never seen before,...

This image of Tycho’s SNR from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory reveals an intriguing pattern of bright clumps and fainter holes. To emphasize these features, two narrow ranges of X-ray energies were selected to isolate material (silicon, colored red) moving away from Earth, and moving towards us (also silicon, colored blue). The other colors in the image (yellow, green, blue-green, orange and purple) show a broad range of different energies and elements, and a mixture of directions of motion. Chandra’s X-ray data are shown alongside an optical image of the stars in the same field of view from the Digitized Sky Survey. Image credit: NASA / CXC / RIKEN / NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / T. Sato et al / DSS.

Chandra Sheds New Light on Tycho’s Supernova Remnant

Oct 21, 2019 by News Staff

X-ray images of Tycho’s supernova remnant (Tycho’s SNR) show a pattern of bright clumps and fainter holes. By comparing new data from NASA’s Chandra...

This image snapped by the Hubble Space Telescope shows a galaxy called IC 4653. This color composite was made from separate exposures taken in the visible and infrared regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). Two 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 / D. Rosario, CEA, Durham University.

Hubble Observes Dwarf Spiral: IC 4653

Oct 21, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a beautiful picture of the dwarf spiral galaxy IC 4653. This image snapped by the Hubble Space Telescope...

The top row of this mosaic features Hubble images of three spiral galaxies, each of which weighs several times as much as the Milky Way. The bottom row shows three even more massive spiral galaxies that qualify as super spirals, which were observed by the ground-based Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The galaxy at lower right, 2MFGC 08638, is the most massive super spiral known to date, with a dark matter halo weighing at least 40 trillion Suns. Image credit: NASA / ESA / P. Ogle & J. DePasquale, STScI / SDSS.

Super Spirals Spin Faster Than Expected, Astronomers Say

Oct 18, 2019 by News Staff

Super spirals are the most massive star-forming disk galaxies in the Universe. They are much larger, brighter, and more massive than our own Milky Way...

This artist’s rendering shows a white dwarf star with two planets. Image credit: Mark Garlick.

Rocky Exoplanets Often Have Earth- and Mars-Like Internal Properties

Oct 18, 2019 by News Staff

White dwarfs are dense, burned-out remnants of normal stars. Due to their strong gravitational pull, surface atmospheres of these ancient objects should...

An artist’s impression of gas flowing like a waterfall into a protoplanetary disk gap, which is most likely caused by an infant planet. Image credit: NRAO / AUI / NSF / S. Dagnello.

ALMA Finds Gas Waterfalls in Planet-Forming Disk around HD 163296

Oct 18, 2019 by News Staff

At three locations in the protoplanetary disk around HD 163296, a young star located approximately 400 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius,...

An artist’s impression of the center of the barred spiral galaxy Messier 77. ALMA discovered two counter-rotating flows of gas around the black hole. The colors in this image represent the motion of the gas: blue is material moving toward us, red is moving away. Image credit: NRAO / AUI / NSF / S. Dagnello.

ALMA Spots Counter-Rotating Disks around Supermassive Black Hole in Messier 77

Oct 17, 2019 by News Staff

Supermassive black holes, millions to billions of times the mass of our Sun, are found at the centers of galaxies. Many of these enormous objects are hidden...