Astronomy News

Andromeda Galaxy is Roughly the Same Mass as Milky Way, Astronomers Say

The Andromeda Galaxy. Image credit: Ivan Bok / CC BY 4.0.
Feb 16, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers have long thought that the Andromeda Galaxy was 2-3 times the mass and size of the Milky Way, and that our own Galaxy would ultimately be engulfed by the bigger neighbor. New research now evens the score between the two galaxies. The Andromeda Galaxy. Image credit: Ivan Bok / CC BY 4.0. “We used a new technique to measure the speed required to escape a galaxy,” said lead author Dr. Prajwal Kafle, a researcher at the University of Western...

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Artist’s impression of the dusty gaseous torus around an active supermassive black hole. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO.

ALMA Spots Rotating Dusty Gaseous Torus around Messier 77’s Central Black Hole

Feb 15, 2018 by News Staff

High resolution observations using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have revealed the presence of a rotating dusty gaseous torus...

This image of NGC 3344 is a composite of separate exposures acquired by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). Seven filters were used to sample various wavelengths. They cover wavelengths from the ultraviolet to the optical and the near-infrared. Together they create a detailed picture of the galaxy and allow astronomers to study many different aspects of it. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Space Telescope Observes Hidden Depths of NGC 3344

Feb 15, 2018 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a spectacular new image of NGC 3344, a face-on spiral galaxy. Hubble’s capacity to observe objects in...

A system of three super-Earth exoplanets. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Astronomers Find One of Most Massive and Dense Super-Earths Yet: Gliese 9827b

Feb 14, 2018 by News Staff

A bright K-type dwarf star called Gliese 9827 hosts one of the most massive (and dense) super-Earths detected to date, according to a study to be published...

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

Interstellar Asteroid Oumuamua Had Violent Past, Say Researchers

Feb 12, 2018 by News Staff

1I/2017 U1 ‘Oumuamua, the first asteroid of extrasolar origin identified in our Solar System, has had a violent past which is causing it to tumble around...

This Hubble image shows the galaxy cluster PLCK G004.5-19.5. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / RELICS / D. Coe et al.

Hubble Snaps Beautiful Image of Giant Galaxy Cluster

Feb 12, 2018 by News Staff

NASA has released an absolutely beautiful photo taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of PLCK G004.5-19.5, a massive cluster of galaxies in the...

VLT map of gas within NGC 7252’s minispiral. Image credit: ESO / NASA / ESA / Hubble / J. Weaver et al.

ESO’s Very Large Telescope Observes Galaxy-Galaxy Merger Remnant

Feb 9, 2018 by News Staff

An unusual composite image created by ESO astronomers reveals the aftermath of a catastrophic collision between two similar disk galaxies, which happened...

This composite image shows two interacting galaxies, known collectively as Arp 142. NGC 2936, once a standard spiral galaxy, and NGC 2937, a smaller elliptical, bear a striking resemblance to a penguin guarding its egg. The blue streak at the top of the image is an unrelated background galaxy, UGC 5130. Image credit: NASA-ESA / STScI / AURA / JPL-Caltech.

Astronomers Spot Cosmic Penguin and Egg

Feb 8, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope have produced this vivid image of a distant pair of interacting...

Hubble Probes Atmospheres of TRAPPIST-1 Habitable-Zone Planets

Feb 6, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have conducted the first spectroscopic survey of exoplanets within the habitable zone around TRAPPIST-1....

This artist’s impression compares TRAPPIST-1 planets to the Earth at the same scale. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

TRAPPIST-1 Planets Are All Rocky, Contain Significant Amounts of Water

Feb 6, 2018 by News Staff

A new study has found that planets orbiting TRAPPIST-1, an ultracool dwarf star 38.8 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius, are mostly made of...

Centaurus A. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble Space Telescope / ESO / Robert Gendler & Roberto Colombari.

Centaurus A’s Satellite Galaxies Move in Unexpected Ways

Feb 6, 2018 by News Staff

Several dwarf galaxies orbiting around a nearby elliptical galaxy called Centaurus A are rotating in synchrony around their host, to astronomers’ surprise....

This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1559. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Sees Spiral Galaxy with Massive Star-Forming Arms

Feb 5, 2018 by News Staff

This view, captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows a somewhat overlooked barred spiral galaxy known as NGC 1559. This image from the NASA/ESA...

Image of the gravitational lens RX J1131-1231, with the foreground elliptical galaxy at the center and four images of the lensed quasar. It is estimated that there are trillions of planets in the lens galaxy. Image credit: University of Oklahoma.

Astronomers Claim to Find Population of Rogue Exoplanets in Distant Galaxy

Feb 2, 2018 by News Staff

Using a quasar microlensing technique, astronomers claim to have found a large population of unbound planets — with masses ranging from Moon to Jupiter...

This illustration shows a glowing stream of material from a star, disrupted as it was being devoured by a supermassive black hole. When a star passes within a certain distance of a black hole -- close enough to be swallowed up -- the stellar material gets stretched and compressed as it is pulled in. A black hole’s destruction of a star, called ‘stellar tidal disruption,’ releases an enormous amount of energy, brightening the surroundings in an event called a flare. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Post-Merger Galaxies’ Supermassive Black Holes Can ‘Eat’ One Star per Year

Feb 2, 2018 by News Staff

A team of astronomers led by University of Colorado Boulder scientists has discovered a mechanism that explains the persistence of asymmetrical star clusters...

ALMA detected methanol, dimethyl ether, and methyl formate in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The far-infrared image on the left shows the full galaxy. The zoom-in image shows the star-forming region observed by ALMA. It is a combination of mid-infrared data from Spitzer and visible (H-alpha) data from the Blanco 4-m telescope. Image credit: NRAO / AUI / NSF / ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / Herschel / ESA / NASA / JPL-Caltech / NOAO.

ALMA Detects Complex Organic Molecules in Large Magellanic Cloud

Feb 1, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have uncovered chemical ‘fingerprints’ of three complex organic molecules...

This image of the Lupus 3 star-forming region was created from images taken using ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope and the MPG/ESO 2.2-m telescope and is the most detailed image taken so far of this region. Image credit: R. Colombari / ESO.

ESO Releases High-Definition Photo of Star-Forming Region Lupus 3

Jan 31, 2018 by News Staff

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) today released the most detailed image taken so far of a star-forming region called Lupus 3. This image of the...

The Sagittarius Dwarf Irregular Galaxy. Image credit: ESO / M. Bellazzini et al.

ESO’s Very Large Telescope Captures Image of Little-Known Dwarf Galaxy

Jan 30, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) on Monday released a colorful image of a small galaxy in the constellation of Sagittarius. The...

This Hubble/WFC3 image shows the unbarred spiral galaxy NGC 7331. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / D. Milisavljevic, Purdue University.

Hubble Observes Unbarred Spiral Galaxy NGC 7331

Jan 29, 2018 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a picture of the spiral galaxy NGC 7331, which is found in the constellation of Pegasus. This Hubble/WFC3...

Artist’s impression of the trio of super-Earth exoplanets. Image credit: ESO.

Found: Three Super-Earths in Orbit around Cool Dwarf Star

Jan 29, 2018 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using data from the NASA Kepler spacecraft’s reborn K2 mission have found a triple system of super-Earth exoplanets around a cool star called...

Future telescopes like the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope (right) will observe the atmospheres of distant planets to seek evidence of life. Earth (top left) has several gases in its atmosphere that reveal the presence of life, primarily oxygen and ozone. Krissansen-Totton et al find that for the early Earth (bottom left), the combination of abundant methane and carbon dioxide would provide an alternative sign of life. Image credit: NASA / Wikimedia Commons / Joshua Krissansen-Totton.

Astrobiologists Find New Way to Detect Extraterrestrial Life

Jan 25, 2018 by News Staff

A team of astrobiologists from the Universities of Washington and California has found a simple approach to look for alien life that might be more promising...

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