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LOFAR image centered on the Abell 0399-Abell 0401 system; color and contours show the radio emission at 140 MHz; the faceting of the field is shown with red lines. Image credit: Govoni et al, doi: 10.1126/science.aat7500.

LOFAR Telescope Sees Ridge of Radio-Emitting Plasma between Two Merging Galaxy Clusters

Jun 10, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) telescope network have detected a vast ridge of radio emission connecting the merging galaxy clusters...

Hubble Looks at Explosive Spiral: NGC 4051

Jun 10, 2019 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has produced a spectacularly detailed image of a spiral galaxy called NGC 4051. This Hubble image shows the intermediate...

An artist’s impression of a disk of cool interstellar gas surrounding the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Image credit: NRAO / AUI / NSF / S. Dagnello.

ALMA Spots Rotating Disk of Cool Hydrogen around Milky Way’s Central Black Hole

Jun 7, 2019 by News Staff

There is a supermassive black hole of nearly 4 million solar masses at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. A large reservoir of hot and cooler hydrogen...

Hubble’s visible-light image of the compact elliptical galaxy Markarian 1216. Image credit: NASA / STScI.

Markarian 1216: Isolated Galaxy Has Dark Matter-Rich Core

Jun 6, 2019 by News Staff

Markarian 1216 (Mrk 1216 for short) is a compact elliptical galaxy about 316 million light-years away. New data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory...

This artist’s illustration depicts a coronal mass ejection, which involves a large-scale expulsion of material, and have frequently been observed on our Sun. Image credit: NNASA / CXC / INAF / Argiroffi et al / S. Wiessinger.

Chandra Detects Huge Coronal Mass Ejection from HR 9024

Jun 6, 2019 by News Staff

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs), often associated with solar flares, are the most powerful magnetic phenomena occurring on the Sun. Now, astronomers using...

Artist’s impression of a potentially habitable exomoon orbiting a giant planet. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Exomoons Could Host Alien Life, Astrophysicist Says

Jun 6, 2019 by News Staff

Exomoons — natural satellites of planets outside our Solar System — could offer another clue about the pool of alien worlds that may be home...

This artist’s illustration shows two gas giant exoplanets orbiting the young star PDS 70. Image credit: J. Olmsted, STScI.

Astronomers Directly Image Two Protoplanets around PDS 70

Jun 4, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) spectrograph on ESO’s Very Large Telescope have directly imaged two still-forming gas...

This Spitzer image shows the Cepheus C and Cepheus B regions. The image was compiled using data from Spitzer’s Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) and the Multiband Imaging Photometer (MIPS). The colors correspond with IRAC wavelengths of 3.6 microns (blue), 4.5 microns (cyan) and 8 microns (green), and 24 microns (red) from the MIPS instrument. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Spitzer Sees Stars and Dense Clouds in Cepheus

Jun 3, 2019 by News Staff

A large celestial mosaic from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope shows multiple clusters of stars and clouds of gas and dust in the constellation of Cepheus. This...

This Hubble image shows the barred spiral galaxy NGC 7773. The image is made up of observations from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) in the infrared and optical parts of the spectrum. Three 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 / J. Walsh.

Hubble Space Telescope Spies NGC 7773

Jun 3, 2019 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured an amazing new photo of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 7773. This Hubble image shows the barred spiral galaxy...

Supernovae discovered by Yasuda et al: there are three images for each supernova -- for before it exploded (left), after it exploded (middle), and the supernova itself. Image credit: Yasuda et al, doi: 10.1093/pasj/psz050.

Astronomers Discover 1,824 New Supernova Candidates

May 31, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using the 8-m Subaru Telescope have identified 1,824 new supernova candidates, including 58 Type Ia supernovae over 8 billion light-years away. Supernovae...

Hubble captured this view of comet 46P/Wirtanen on December 13, 2018. Image credit: NASA / ESA / D. Bodewits, Auburn University / J.-Y. Li, Planetary Science Institute.

Hyperactive Comets Contain ‘Ocean-Like’ Water

May 31, 2019 by News Staff

NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) observed the hyperactive Jupiter-family comet 46P/Wirtanen as it made its closest approach...

Scholz’s star flew through the Oort Cloud 70,000 years ago. Image credit: José A. Peñas / SINC.

Did Nearby Supernovae Induce Hominins to Walk on Two Legs?

May 30, 2019 by News Staff

Between 8 and 2 million years ago, cosmic-ray energy from one or more nearby supernovae reached Earth and pummeled the planet’s atmosphere, initiating...

An artist’s impression of NGTS-4b and its star. Image credit: Mark Garlick / University of Warwick.

Astronomers Discover ‘Forbidden’ Short-Period Neptune-Sized Exoplanet

May 30, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers has discovered a Neptune-sized exoplanet orbiting NGTS-4, a K-dwarf star located 922 light-years from Earth. Named...

An artist’s conception of the HR 858 planetary system. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Compact System of Three Super-Earths Found around Naked-Eye Star

May 29, 2019 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanets Survey Satellite (TESS) have discovered a compact three-planet system around the sixth-magnitude star...

The 18 newly-discovered exoplanets (orange and green) are much smaller than Neptune, three of them even smaller than Earth and two more as large as Earth. Planet EPIC 201238110.02 is the only one of the new planets cool enough to potentially host liquid water on its surface. Image credit: NASA / JPL / NOAA / GSFC / Suomi NPP / VIIRS / Norman Kuring / Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research / René Heller.

Astronomers Discover 18 New Small Exoplanets in Kepler Data

May 28, 2019 by News Staff

A team of astronomers from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, the Georg August University of Göttingen and Sonneberg Observatory has...

This Hubble image shows the elliptical galaxy Messier 59. This image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by Hubble’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) and Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). Four filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different colors to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / P. Cote.

Hubble Captures Stunning Image of Messier 59

May 27, 2019 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has produced this beautiful image of an elliptical galaxy called Messier 59. This Hubble image shows the elliptical...

Voyager 2 image of Triton showing the south polar region with dark streaks produced by geysers visible on the icy surface. Image credit: NASA / JPL.

Astronomers Find Exotic Ices on Neptune’s Moon Triton

May 24, 2019 by News Staff

In the lab, scientists have pinpointed a specific wavelength of infrared light absorbed when molecules of carbon monoxide and nitrogen join together and...

An artist’s impression of Orion Source I, a young, massive star about 1,500 light-years away. The blue region -- about 1/3 the way out from the center of the disk -- represents the region where ALMA detected the millimeter-wavelength ‘glow’ from the salts. Image credit: NRAO / AUI / NSF / S. Dagnello.

Aluminum Monoxide Found around Massive Protostar

May 21, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have spotted aluminum monoxide (AlO) molecules in the gas surrounding Orion Source...

This artist’s impression shows exocomets orbiting beta Pictoris. Image credit: L. Calçada / ESO.

TESS Detects Exocomets in Beta Pictoris System

May 20, 2019 by Sergio Prostak

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanets Survey Satellite (TESS) has spotted the long tails of extrasolar comets orbiting the very young star beta Pictoris. This...