Astronomy News

Nuclear Pasta: Exotic Substance in Neutron Stars’ Crust May Be Universe’s Strongest Material

Neutron stars are the smallest, densest stars in the Universe. True to their name, neutron stars are composed almost entirely of neutrons. Duer et al suggest that some properties of neutron stars may be influenced not only by their multitude of densely packed neutrons, but also by a substantially smaller fraction of protons -- positively charged particles that make up just 5% of a neutron star. This is an illustration of a neutron star. Image credit: Casey Reed, Penn State University.
Sep 19, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of researchers from McGill University, California Institute of Technology and Indiana University has calculated the strength of nuclear pasta — extremely dense material deep inside the crust of neutron stars. The results, published in the journal Physical Review Letters, show that nuclear pasta may be the strongest known material in the Universe, with a shear modulus of up to 1030 ergs/cm3 and breaking strain greater than...

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TESS took this snapshot of the Large Magellanic Cloud (right) and the bright star R Doradus (left) with just a single detector of one of its cameras on August 7. Image credit: NASA / MIT / TESS.

NASA’s Planet-Hunter TESS Captures Its First Science Images

Sep 19, 2018 by News Staff

‘First light’ science images from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) show a wealth of stars and other objects, including stellar...

An artist’s conception of Epsilon Indi, a star system approximately 12 light-years from Earth in the constellation Indus: brown dwarfs Epsilon Indi B and C orbit their common center of mass, which in turn orbits the much more distant primary component -- the Sun-like star Epsilon Indi A. Image credit: Roberto Molar Candanosa & Sergio Dieterich, Carnegie Institution for Science.

Astronomers Say Star-Brown Dwarf Boundary May Soon Be Clearer

Sep 18, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of scientists led by Carnegie Institution’s Serge Dieterich has demonstrated that brown dwarfs, objects which are unable to sustain...

This image shows RX J0806.4-4123 with a disk of warm dust that produces an infrared signature as detected by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Nahks Tr’Ehnl, Pennsylvania State University.

Hubble Detects Unusual Infrared Emission from Nearby Neutron Star

Sep 18, 2018 by News Staff

An unusual infrared emission from the neutron star RX J0806.4-4123 detected by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope could indicate new features never before...

This Hubble image shows part of the Coma cluster of galaxies. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the visible region 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.

Hubble Space Telescope Focuses on Coma Cluster

Sep 17, 2018 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a detailed image of a spectacular part of the Coma cluster, a structure of over a thousand galaxies bound...

Unlike most supernovae that fade away, SN 2012au continues to shine today thanks to a powerful new pulsar. Image credit: NASA / ESA / J. DePasquale, STScI.

Astronomers Witness Birth of Pulsar from Energetic Supernova Explosion

Sep 14, 2018 by News Staff

A team of astronomers has observed a new phenomenon in the aftermath of SN 2012au, an extremely energetic supernova discovered on March 14, 2012 in the...

Zhang et al used artificial intelligence to search through radio signals recorded from FRB 121102. Image credit: Breakthrough Listen Initiative.

AI Helps Astronomers Detect New Pulses from Mysterious Repeating Radio Source

Sep 14, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers at Breakthrough Listen, a scientific program in search for signs of intelligent life in the Universe, have applied machine-learning techniques...

Abell 370, a massive galaxy cluster located in the constellation Cetus, approximately 4 billion light-years away, is the first target of the BUFFALO survey, which aims to search for some of the first galaxies in the Universe. Image credit: NASA / ESA / A. Koekemoer / M. Jauzac / C. Steinhardt / BUFFALO Team.

Hubble Captures Wide-Field View of Galaxy Cluster Abell 370

Sep 14, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured a spectacular image of Abell 370, a massive galaxy cluster embedded among nearly thousands...

This VLT/FORS2 image shows the spiral galaxy NGC 3981. Image credit: ESO.

ESO’s Very Large Telescope Captures Best View Ever of NGC 3981

Sep 13, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) has captured a striking image of the spiral galaxy NGC 3981. This VLT/FORS2 image shows the spiral...

An artist’s impression of a jet emanating from NGC 4993. Image credit: J.A. Biretta et al / NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA / Sci-News.com.

Jet from Neutron-Star Merger GW170817 Appeared to Move Four Times Faster than Light

Sep 12, 2018 by News Staff

Radio observations using a combination of NSF’s Very Long Baseline Array, the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array and the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope...

This image, taken by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), shows the massive galaxy cluster SDSS J1138+2754. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Judy Schmidt, www.geckzilla.com.

Giant Cluster’s Gravity Distorts, Magnifies Light from Distant Galaxies

Sep 11, 2018 by News Staff

SDSS J1138+2754, a galaxy cluster located approximately 5 billion light-years away in the constellation Leo, is so massive that its gravity distorts, brightens,...

Astronomers Find Two-Planet System in Beehive Cluster

Sep 11, 2018 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using data from the Kepler spacecraft’s K2 mission have discovered two mini-Neptune exoplanets orbiting a star in an open star cluster called...

An artist’s impression of an outflow of molecular gas from an active star-forming galaxy. Image credit: NRAO / AUI / NSF / D. Berry.

ALMA Observes Most Distant Galactic ‘Wind’

Sep 10, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have detected a powerful ‘wind’ in SPT-S J231921-5557.9 (SPT2319-55 for short),...

This Pluto mosaic was made from New Horizons LORRI images taken on July 14, 2015, from a distance of 49,700 miles (80,000 km). This view is projected from a point 1,118 miles (1,800 km) above Pluto’s equator, looking northeast over the dark, cratered Cthulhu Regio toward the bright, smooth expanse of icy plains called Sputnik Planum. Pluto’s North Pole is off the image to the left. This mosaic was produced with panchromatic images from the New Horizons LORRI camera, with color overlaid from the Ralph color mapper onboard New Horizons. Image credit: S.A. Stern et al.

Researchers Say the Reason Pluto Lost Its Planet Status is Not Valid

Sep 10, 2018 by News Staff

In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) established a definition of a planet that required it to clear its orbit, or in other words, be the...

New data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory reveal the presence of very bright X-ray sources, most likely binary systems powered by either a stellar-mass black hole or neutron star, in the remarkable ring of the galaxy AM 0644-741. In this composite image, X-rays from Chandra (purple) have been combined with optical data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (red, green, and blue). Image credit: X-ray – NASA / CXC / INAF / A. Wolter et al; optical – NASA / STScI.

Chandra X-ray Observatory Discovers Ring of Dense Compact Objects in Distant Galaxy

Sep 7, 2018 by News Staff

A remarkable ring of bright X-ray sources — black holes or neutron stars — has been discovered in a galaxy approximately 300 million light...

A red, green, blue composite image of the Large Magellanic Cloud made from radio wavelength observations at 123, 181 and 227 MHz. At these wavelengths, emission from cosmic rays and the hot gases belonging to the star forming regions and supernova remnants of the galaxy are visible. Image credit: International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research.

Astronomers Create Cosmic-Ray Maps of Magellanic Clouds

Sep 6, 2018 by News Staff

By observing two neighboring galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud, using the Murchison Widefield Array radio telescope in...

This image of the Great Red Spot was taken on July 10, 2017, as Juno performed its seventh close flyby of Jupiter. At the time the image was taken, the spacecraft was 8,648 miles (13,917 km) from the tops of the clouds of the planet. Image credit: NASA / SwRI / MSSS.

Scientists Find Water in Jupiter’s Great Red Spot

Sep 3, 2018 by News Staff

By looking from two ground-based telescopes at wavelengths sensitive to thermal radiation leaking from the depths of Jupiter’s mysterious, roiling storm...

This Hubble image shows the lenticular galaxy NGC 4036. The bright star visible slightly to the right of the galactic center is not within the galaxy itself; it sits between us and NGC 4036, adding a burst of brightness to the scene. 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 / Judy Schmidt, www.geckzilla.com.

Hubble Space Telescope Looks at NGC 4036

Sep 3, 2018 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a striking photo of the lenticular galaxy NGC 4036. This Hubble image shows the lenticular galaxy NGC...

An artist’s impression of a water-world exoplanet. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Water-World Exoplanets Could Be Friendly to Life

Sep 3, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers have largely assumed that water-world exoplanets would not support the cycling of minerals and gases that keeps the climate stable on Earth,...

This Hubble image is a composite of observations made of Saturn in early 2018 in the optical and of the auroras on Saturn’s north pole region, made in 2017. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / A. Simon, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / OPAL Team / J. DePasquale, STScI / L. Lamy, Observatoire de Paris.

Hubble Captures Enormous Northern Auroras on Saturn

Aug 31, 2018 by News Staff

Viewing Saturn’s northern polar region for a period of seven months, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space telescope snapped a series of stunning images of auroras...

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