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Eta Carinae’s great eruption in the 1840s created the Homunculus Nebula, imaged here by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Now about a light-year long, the expanding cloud contains enough material to make at least 10 copies of our Sun. Astronomers cannot yet explain what caused this eruption. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble SM4 ERO Team.

NuSTAR Detects High-Energy Cosmic Rays from Eta Carinae System

Jul 4, 2018 by News Staff

Eta Carinae — a binary star system approximately 7,500 light-years away in the constellation Carina — is accelerating particles to high energies,...

Camargo 1102. Image credit: Denilso Camargo, doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/aacc68.

Astronomer Discovers Five New Globular Clusters

Jul 4, 2018 by Sergio Prostak

Using images from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), Dr. Denilso Camargo of the Colégio Militar de Porto Alegre, Brazil, has discovered...

This image from the SPHERE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope is the first clear image of an exoplanet caught in the very act of formation. The planet stands clearly out, visible as a bright point to the right of the center of the image, which is blacked out by the coronagraph mask used to block the blinding light of the central star. Image credit: ESO / A. Müller et al.

ESO’s Very Large Telescope Directly Images Newborn Exoplanet

Jul 3, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers using the SPHERE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope have found an infant gas giant orbiting the young dwarf star PDS 70. Not only have...

This Hubble image shows the giant galaxy cluster RXC J2211.7-0350. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / RELICS.

Hubble Spots Cluster of Diverse Galaxies

Jul 2, 2018 by News Staff

An incredible new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the diverse collection of galaxies in RXC J2211.7-0350, a massive galaxy cluster...

This is an artist's impression of the SN 1987A remnant. The image is based on real data and reveals the cold, inner regions of the remnant, in red, where tremendous amounts of dust were detected and imaged by ALMA. This inner region is contrasted with the outer shell, lacy white and blue circles, where the blast wave from the supernova is colliding with the envelope of gas ejected from the star prior to its powerful detonation. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / Alexandra Angelich, NRAO / AUI / NSF.

Researchers Observe Magnetic Field Generated by Supernova Remnant 1987A

Jun 29, 2018 by News Staff

The detection of a radial magnetic field across the inner ring of SNR 1987A, the remnant of a supernova first witnessed three decades ago, provides insight...

This artistic concept shows Kepler-186f. Image credit: NASA Ames / SETI Institute / JPL-CalTech.

Study: Habitable Zone Exoplanets Kepler-62f and Kepler-186f Have Stable Climate, Regular Seasons

Jun 29, 2018 by News Staff

New research from the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics suggests that exoplanets Kepler-62f and Kepler-186f...

This artist’s impression shows ‘Oumuamua, the first interstellar object discovered in our Solar System. Recent observations show that the object is moving faster than predicted while leaving the Solar System. Astronomers assume that venting material from its surface due to solar heating is responsible for this behavior. This outgassing can be seen in this artist’s impression as a subtle cloud being ejected from the side of the object facing the Sun. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / ESO / M. Kornmesser.

Oumuamua Turns Out to Be Interstellar Comet After All

Jun 28, 2018 by News Staff

1I/2017 U1 ‘Oumuamua — the first known object of extrasolar origin discovered within the Solar System — has been the subject of intense scrutiny...

An illustration of the structure of a greasy carbon molecule, set against an image of the Milky Way’s center, where this material has been detected; carbon is represented as gray spheres and hydrogen as white spheres. Image credit: D. Young.

Milky Way is Rich in Greasy Carbon Molecules, Researchers Say

Jun 27, 2018 by News Staff

Organic matter of different kinds contains carbon, an element considered essential for life. There is though real uncertainty over its abundance, and only...

Exoplanet Biosignatures: Will We Be Able to Recognize Extraterrestrial Life If We See It?

Jun 26, 2018 by News Staff

A team of leading astronomers, biologists and geologists have come together under the Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS), a NASA research coordination...

This Hubble image shows a globular cluster called NGC 6397. Image credit: NASA / ESA / T. Brown, S. Casertano & J. Anderson, STScI.

Globular Clusters Could Have Been Birthplace of Supermassive Stars

Jun 25, 2018 by News Staff

University of Surrey’s Professor Mark Gieles and colleagues may have found a solution to a problem that has perplexed astronomers for several decades:...

The globular cluster NGC 6139 as seen by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Sees Massive Globular Cluster: NGC 6139

Jun 25, 2018 by News Staff

A new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows off the massive globular cluster NGC 6139. The globular cluster NGC 6139 as seen by the NASA/ESA...

A simulation of the cosmic web, diffuse tendrils of gas that connect galaxies across the Universe. Image credit: Illustris Collaboration.

Universe’s Missing Baryons Found in Intergalactic Medium

Jun 22, 2018 by News Staff

Ordinary (baryonic) matter make up all physical objects in existence, from stars to the cores of black holes. But until now, scientists had only been able...

An artist’s impression of HD 73344b. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

NASA’s Kepler K2 Mission Discovers 78 New Exoplanet Candidates

Jun 22, 2018 by News Staff

The NASA Kepler spacecraft’s reborn K2 mission announced this week the discovery of 78 new potential exoplanets: 30 high-quality planet candidates and...

This Hubble image shows the diverse collection of galaxies in the galaxy cluster Abell S0740. The giant elliptical galaxy ESO 325-G004 looms large at the cluster’s center. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA / J. Blakeslee, Washington State University.

Astrophysicists Conduct Most Precise Extrasolar Test Yet of Einstein’s Gravity

Jun 21, 2018 by News Staff

Dr. Thomas Collett, an astrophysicist and cosmologist at the University of Portsmouth, UK, and co-authors have made the most precise test of Albert Einstein’s...

An artist’s impression of an intermediate-mass black hole. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Astronomers See Best Evidence Yet of Intermediate-Mass Black Hole

Jun 20, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers know that small black holes — objects ranging from 10 times to 100 times the Sun’s mass — are the remnants of dying stars, and...

Artist’s impression of the exoplanet Wolf 503b and its host star. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Wolf 503b: Large Exoplanet Found 145 Light-Years Away

Jun 20, 2018 by Sergio Prostak

An extrasolar planet larger than the Earth has been discovered orbiting a nearby cool star, thanks to data gathered by NASA’s Kepler/K2 mission. Artist’s...

An artist’s impression of a starburst galaxy. This kind of galaxy is typically forming stars at such a high rate; they can form up to 1,000 times more stars per year, compared to our own Milky Way Galaxy. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Astronomers Find Too Many Massive Stars in Nearby and Distant Star-Forming Galaxies

Jun 19, 2018 by News Staff

Two independent teams of astronomers have discovered that both starburst galaxies in the early Universe and a star-forming region in a nearby galaxy called...

This Hubble image shows the giant galaxy cluster RXC J0949.8+1707. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / RELICS.

Hubble Sees One Distant Cluster Galaxy, Three Supernovae

Jun 18, 2018 by News Staff

Numerous fuzzy blobs and glowing shapes scattered across this image — taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope — make up RXC J0949.8+1707,...

An artist’s conception of a tidal disruption event in the merging galaxy pair Arp 299; background is the Hubble image of Arp 299. Image credit: Sophia Dagnello / NRAO / AUI / NSF / NASA / STScI.

Supermassive Black Hole Destroys Star, Launches Jet of Matter

Jun 15, 2018 by News Staff

A multinational group of astronomers has imaged the formation and expansion of a fast-moving jet of material ejected when the intense gravity of a supermassive...