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An artist’s impression of the peculiar thin disk of material circling a supermassive black hole at the heart of NGC 3147. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESA / Hubble.

Thin Accretion Disk around NGC 3147’s Central Black Hole Surprises Astronomers

Jul 12, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have found an unexpected thin disk of material furiously whirling around a supermassive black hole...

Artist’s illustration of two merging neutron stars. Image credit: NSF / LIGO / Sonoma State University / A. Simonnet.

Astronomers Develop New Method for Measuring Hubble Constant

Jul 11, 2019 by News Staff

The Hubble constant measures the current expansion rate of our Universe and plays a fundamental role in cosmology: it can be used to determine the Universe’s...

This image of 2019 LF6 was captured by ZTF on June 10, 2019. Image credit: ZTF / Caltech Optical Observatories.

Astronomers Find Asteroid with Record-Short Year

Jul 10, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), a state-of-the-art camera at the Palomar Observatory in southern California, have spotted a very...

This VLT image shows the planetary nebula Abell 24. Image credit: ESO.

VLT Snaps Stunning Planetary Nebula Image: Abell 24

Jul 9, 2019 by News Staff

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has released a beautiful photo taken by the FORS (FOcal Reducer and Spectrograph) instrument on the Very Large...

This image snapped by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reveals a detailed view of NGC 1156. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the visible region of the spectrum with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys. 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 / R. Jansen.

Hubble Views Lonely Dwarf Galaxy: NGC 1156

Jul 8, 2019 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has produced a beautiful image of the dwarf irregular galaxy NGC 1156, one of the best targets to study the isolated...

Dai et al used Chandra to measure the spin of five quasars. Gravitational lensing of the light from each of these black holes by an intervening galaxy has created multiple images of each quasar, as shown by these Chandra images of four of the targets. Image credit: NASA / CXC / University of Oklahoma / Dai et al.

Chandra Uses Gravitational Lens to Capture Spinning Black Holes

Jul 5, 2019 by News Staff

By combining the capability of NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory with the power of a natural phenomenon called gravitational lensing, a team of astronomers...

An artist’s impression of CSIRO’s ASKAP radio telescope detecting a fast radio burst. Image credit: Swinburne University of Technology / OzGrav ARC Centre of Excellence.

Second Non-Repeating Fast Radio Burst Traced Back to Its Home Galaxy

Jul 4, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Deep Synoptic Array-10 at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory have discovered a new non-repeating fast radio burst (FRB), called FRB...

This artist’s illustration shows a giant cloud of hydrogen streaming off the warm Neptune GJ 3470b. The host star’s intense radiation is heating the hydrogen in the planet’s upper atmosphere to a point where it escapes into space. GJ 3470b is losing hydrogen at a rate 100 times faster than a previously observed warm Neptune whose atmosphere is also evaporating away. Image credit: NASA / ESA / D. Player, STScI.

Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes Probe Atmosphere of Sub-Neptune

Jul 3, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers are curious about the two recently-discovered classes of planets not found in the Solar System: the so-called super-Earths and sub-Neptunes,...

This artist’s impression shows the first interstellar asteroid -- 1I/2017 U1 (’Oumuamua). Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Interstellar Object ‘Oumuamua Has Purely Natural Origin, Say Astronomers

Jul 2, 2019 by News Staff

A fast moving, cigar-shaped object of extrasolar origin was discovered on October 19, 2017 by the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope in Hawai’i. Named 1I/2017 U1...

Astronomers have monitored the Eta Carinae binary system for more than two decades. It has been prone to violent outbursts, including an episode in the 1840s during which ejected material formed the bipolar bubbles seen here. Now, using Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) instrument to probe the nebula in ultraviolet light, they have uncovered the glow of magnesium embedded in warm gas (shown in blue) in places they had not seen it before. The luminous magnesium resides in the space between the dusty bipolar bubbles and the outer shock-heated nitrogen-rich filaments (shown in red). The streaks visible in the blue region outside the lower-left lobe are a striking feature of the image. These streaks are created when the star’s light rays poke through the dust clumps scattered along the bubble’s surface. Wherever the ultraviolet light strikes the dense dust, it leaves a long, thin shadow that extends beyond the lobe into the surrounding gas. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / N. Smith, University of Arizona / J. Morse, BoldlyGo Institute.

Hubble Captures Eta Carinae in Ultraviolet Light

Jul 2, 2019 by News Staff

Eta Carinae is a binary stellar system approximately 7,500 light-years away in the constellation Carina. Also known as HD 93308 and Hen 3-481, the system...

An artist’s conception of the L 98-59 planetary system. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

TESS Discovers Planetary System with Three Terrestrial-Size Exoplanets

Jul 1, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) have discovered three small planets orbiting a bright M-dwarf star called L 98-59....

This Hubble image shows a spiral galaxy called NGC 972. The image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) instrument. 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 / L. Ho.

Hubble Sees Dusty Star-Forming Galaxy: NGC 972

Jul 1, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a striking new photo of the spiral galaxy NGC 972. This Hubble image shows a spiral galaxy called NGC...

An artist’s impression of ASKAP finding a fast radio burst and determining its precise location. The Keck, VLT and Gemini South optical telescopes joined ASKAP with follow-up observations to image the host galaxy. Image credit: Andrew Howells / CSIRO.

Astronomers Pinpoint Location of Non-Repeating Fast Radio Burst

Jun 28, 2019 by News Staff

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are brief radio emissions from distant astronomical sources. Some are known to repeat, but most are single bursts, occurring only...

An artist’s concept depicting the presence of buckyballs in space. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Astronomers Find Ionized Buckyballs in Interstellar Medium

Jun 27, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have confirmed the presence of ionized (electrically-charged) buckminsterfullerene in the interstellar...

Composite image of Uranus’ atmosphere and rings at radio wavelengths, taken with the ALMA in December 2017. Dark bands in Uranus’ atmosphere at these wavelengths show the presence of radiowave-absorbing molecules, in particular hydrogen sulfide gas, whereas bright regions like the north polar spot contain very few of these molecules. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / E. Molter and I. de Pater.

Astronomers Snap Thermal Images of Uranian Ring System

Jun 24, 2019 by News Staff

The rings of the ice giant Uranus are invisible to all but the largest telescopes — they weren’t even discovered until 1977. However, they are...

This Hubble image shows the spiral galaxy Messier 98. The image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by Hubble’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2). 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 / V. Rubin et al.

Hubble Space Telescope Observes Hidden Depths of Messier 98

Jun 24, 2019 by News Staff

NASA has released a spectacularly detailed image captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope that shows a spiral galaxy called Messier 98. This Hubble...

An artist’s impression of the GRB 190114C jet over time, and the small patches of magnetic fields. Image credit: Laskar et al.

Astronomers Capture First Polarized Radio Signal from Gamma-Ray Burst

Jun 21, 2019 by News Staff

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are the most energetic explosions in the Universe, beaming out mighty jets which travel through space at 0.99 times the speed of...

An artist’s impression of two planets orbiting Teegarden’s Star. Image credit: Institute for Astrophysics, University of Göttingen.

Two Earth-Mass Exoplanets Found in Habitable Zone around 8-Billion-Year-Old Red Dwarf

Jun 20, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the CARMENES (Calar Alto high-Resolution search for M dwarfs with Exoearths with Near-infrared and optical Échelle Spectrographs) instrument...

Milky Way Collided with Dark-Matter Dominated Galaxy Less Than Billion Years Ago

Jun 18, 2019 by News Staff

According to new research led by Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), the collision of the recently-discovered dwarf galaxy Antlia 2 with our Milky...