Astronomy News

2018 VG18 Farout: Astronomers Discover Most Distant Solar System Object Ever

An artist’s concept of 2018 VG18. Image credit: Roberto Molar Candanosa / Carnegie Institution for Science.
Dec 18, 2018 by News Staff

Carnegie Institution astronomer Dr. Scott S. Sheppard, University of Hawaii’s Dr. David Tholen and Northern Arizona University’s Dr. Chad Trujillo have discovered the most-distant body ever observed in the Solar System — a dwarf planet named 2018 VG18. An artist’s concept of 2018 VG18. Image credit: Roberto Molar Candanosa / Carnegie Institution for Science. The discovery images of 2018 VG18, nicknamed ‘Farout,’ were taken at the Subaru...

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An artist’s impression of the Neptune-sized exoplanet K2-263b. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Astronomers Discover Icy Neptune-Sized Exoplanet: K2-263b

Dec 17, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers have discovered a frozen exoplanet nearly the size of Neptune orbiting the quiet G9-type dwarf star K2-263. An artist’s impression of the...

This 120 second image of comet 46P/Wirtanen was taken December 2, 2018 by an iTelescope 50 mm refractor located at an observatory near Mayhill, New Mexico. The streak below the comet was produced by a rocket body (upper stage) passing through the telescope’s field of view during the exposure. Specifically, the upper stage is the one that placed the Indonesian Garuda 1 communications satellite into geostationary orbit back in February of 2000. At the time of this image, the Garuda 1 upper stage was 15,880 miles (25,556 km) from the observatory; 46P/Wirtanen was 10.3 million miles (16.6 million km) distant. Image credit: NASA.

Comet 46P/Wirtanen to Make Closest Approach to Earth in Over Four Centuries

Dec 15, 2018 by News Staff

On Sunday, December 16, 2018, comet 46P/Wirtanen will make a close pass of Earth. The comet will be at its closest distance to our planet in over four...

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 Finds Fast-Evaporating Warm Neptune: GJ 3470b

Dec 14, 2018 by News Staff

Extrasolar ‘Neptunes’ are exoplanets with masses and radii similar to those of the ice giants in the Solar System. In 2015, astronomers using the NASA/ESA...

An artist’s impression of the disk of dust and gas surrounding the massive protostar MM 1a, with its companion MM 1b forming in the outer regions. Image credit: J.D. Ilee, University of Leeds.

Smaller Member of Binary Protostar Caught Forming Like Planet

Dec 14, 2018 by News Staff

While observing a massive protostar called G11.92-0.61 MM 1, a research team led by University of Leeds astronomers discovered it was not in fact one stellar...

ALMA’s high-resolution images of nearby protoplanetary disks. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / S. Andrews et al / AUI / NSF / S. Dagnello.

ALMA Captures Stunning Views of Protoplanetary Disks

Dec 13, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have conducted one of the deepest surveys ever of protoplanetary disks —...

An artist’s rendition of a supernova explosion. Image credit: ESA / Hubble / L. Calcada / NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Nearby Supernova Explosions Triggered End-Pliocene Marine Mass Extinction, Researchers Say

Dec 13, 2018 by News Staff

Approximately 2.6 million years ago (Pliocene epoch), a tsunami of cosmic energy from a massive supernova or a series of them about 150 light-years away...

This Hubble image shows the grand design spiral galaxy Messier 100. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Captures Striking New Image of Grand Design Spiral Galaxy Messier 100

Dec 10, 2018 by News Staff

A new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the core and the innermost parts of the spiral arms of a galaxy called Messier 100. This Hubble...

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

SETI Astronomers Find No Evidence for Artificial Transmitters on Oumuamua

Dec 7, 2018 by News Staff

In October 2017, a fast moving object of extrasolar origin, named ‘Oumuamua, was discovered close to the Earth with a ground-based telescope in Hawai’i....

An artist’s impression of the exoplanet HAT-P-11b with its extended helium atmosphere blown away by the star, an orange dwarf star smaller, but more active, than the Sun. Image credit: Denis Bajram.

Astronomers Spot Helium Cloud around Exo-Neptune HAT-P-11b

Dec 7, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers has detected helium escaping from the upper atmosphere of HAT-P-11b, a Neptune-mass exoplanet located in the constellation...

The current, widely recognized model of the Universe, called LambdaCDM, tells us nothing about what dark matter and dark energy are like physically. We only know about them because of the gravitational effects they have on other, observable matter. Dr. Farnes’ model offers a new explanation. Image credit: NASA / ESA / M. Livio / Hubble 20th Anniversary Team, STScI.

Negative-Mass Dark Fluid: Astonishing New Theory Could Explain Universe’s Missing 95%

Dec 5, 2018 by News Staff

The standard cosmological model known as LambdaCDM can only explain 5% of the observable Universe. The remaining 95% is famously made up almost entirely...

This image of Westerlund 1 was produced from data gathered by ALMA, combined with data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Image credit: ESO / ALMA / NAOJ / NRAO / Fenech et al.

ALMA Finds Giant Stars with Comet-Like Tails in Westerlund 1

Dec 3, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have spotted comet-like stars in a young star cluster called Westerlund 1. This...

ALMA image of Europa. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / S. Trumbo et al.

Astronomers Create Global Thermal Maps of Jupiter’s Moon Europa

Dec 3, 2018 by News Staff

A new series of daytime images of Europa from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has helped astronomers create first global thermal...

This map of the entire sky shows the location of 739 blazars used in NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope’s measurement of the extragalactic background light. The background shows the sky as it appears in gamma rays with energies above 10 billion electron volts, constructed from nine years of observations by Fermi’s Large Area Telescope. The plane of our Milky Way Galaxy runs along the middle of the plot. Image credit: NASA / DOE / Fermi LAT Collaboration.

Astronomers Trace History of Universe’s Star Formation

Nov 30, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers believe that our Universe began forming the first stars when it was a few hundred million years old. Since then, the Universe has become a...

This Hubble mosaic is of a portion of the Coma cluster of over 1,000 galaxies, located 300 million light-years from Earth. Image credit: NASA / ESA / J. Mack, STScI / J. Madrid, Australian Telescope National Facility.

Hubble Finds Over 22,000 Globular Clusters Hiding in Coma Galaxy Cluster

Nov 29, 2018 by News Staff

Globular clusters are ancient groups of hundreds of thousands or even millions of stars, gravitationally bound into a single structure about 100-200 light-years...

The Lascaux Shaft Scene: a panel with a rhino, a duck/goose and a disemboweled aurochs/bison with a dying man on the main wall. Image credit: © Ministère de la Culture / Centre National de la Préhistoire / Norbert Aujoulat.

European Paleolithic Art Reveals Use of Complex Astronomy

Nov 29, 2018 by News Staff

As far back as 40,000 years ago (Upper Paleolithic), ancient people kept track of time using relatively advanced knowledge of astronomy. The Lascaux Shaft...

An artist’s impression of the hot-Jupiter HD 2685b. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

NASA’s TESS Spacecraft Discovers New Hot Jupiter: HD 2685b

Nov 27, 2018 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) have discovered a hot-Jupiter exoplanet orbiting the early F-type star...

This image shows the HCG 98 group. The core of HCG 98 consists of the two ‘smudges’ at the center of the image. Each is a galaxy much like our own Milky Way Galaxy. The tadpole structure covers the central galaxy pair and was formed when the pair demolished a much smaller galaxy. Image credit: Brosch et al, doi: 10.1093/mnras/sty2717.

Astronomers Find Enormous Relic of Disrupted Tadpole Galaxy

Nov 26, 2018 by News Staff

The disrupted ‘tadpole’ galaxy has an elliptical head and a long, straight tail, and is approximately one million light-years long — about 10...

This Hubble image shows a supernova remnant called SNR 0454-67.2. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the visible region of the spectrum with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). Four 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.

Hubble Sees Tangled Web in Large Magellanic Cloud

Nov 26, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

These threads of red snaking amidst dark, turbulent clouds make up a cosmic object known as SNR 0454-67.2. This tangled web is actually the remnants from...

An artist’s impression of the HR 8799 planetary system. Image credit: W. M. Keck Observatory / Adam Makarenko / C. Alvarez.

Astronomers Confirm Water on Young Gas Giant HR 8799c

Nov 23, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSPEC) on the Keck II telescope at the W. M. Keck Observatory have confirmed the existence of water...

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