Astronomy News

Astronomers Spot Interstellar Object in Our Solar System: A/2017 U1

A/2017 U1 (center). Image credit: Paulo Holvorcem & Michael Schwartz, Tenagra Observatories.
Oct 29, 2017 by News Staff

For the first time, astronomers think they’ve spotted an asteroid (or perhaps a comet) in the Solar System that came from interstellar space. A/2017 U1 (center). Image credit: Paulo Holvorcem & Michael Schwartz, Tenagra Observatories. A/2017 U1 — which initially some believed to be a comet, but is now believed to be an asteroid — is approximately 1,300 feet (400 m) in diameter. The object was discovered on October 19, 2017, by Pan-STARRS...

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This illustration shows Kepler-13Ab that circles very close to its host star, Kepler-13A. In the background is the star’s binary companion, Kepler-13B, and the third member of the multiple-star system is the orange dwarf star Kepler-13C. Image credit: NASA / ESA / G. Bacon, STScI.

Hubble Discovers Titanium Dioxide Snow Falling on Hot Jupiter Kepler-13Ab

Oct 28, 2017 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has found a blistering hot-Jupiter exoplanet where it ‘snows’ titanium dioxide, the active ingredient in sunscreen....

Artist’s impression of the comet passing a distant star. Image credit: Danielle Futselaar.

Short-Period Exocomets Found around Distant Young Star

Oct 27, 2017 by News Staff

A team of professional and amateur astronomers using data from NASA’s Kepler mission has spotted the dusty tails of six exocomets orbiting KIC 3542116,...

This Hubble image shows the massive galaxy cluster Abell S1063. Image credit: NASA / ESA / J. Lotz, STScI.

Hubble Detects Wobbling Galaxies within Massive Galaxy Clusters

Oct 26, 2017 by News Staff

Galaxy clusters are among the most massive structures in the Universe. Every galaxy cluster contains a galaxy that is brighter than the other members,...

Countless galaxies vie for attention in this VST image of the Fornax Cluster (also known as ACO S 373 and MCL 52), some appearing only as pinpricks of light while others dominate the foreground. One of these is the lenticular galaxy NGC 1316. Image credit: A. Grado & L. Limatola, ESO.

ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope Captures Best View Ever of Fornax Cluster

Oct 25, 2017 by News Staff

One of the largest and most detailed images of the Fornax Cluster ever created has been released by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). Countless...

Artist’s impression of Zeta Puppis, an O-type star approximately 1,400 light-years away in the constellation Puppis. Image credit: Tahina Ramiaramanantsoa.

Huge Bright Spots on Supergiant Star Zeta Puppis Drive Spirals in Its Extremely Strong Stellar Wind

Oct 24, 2017 by News Staff

Zeta Puppis, also known as Naos, is a blue supergiant star, one of the most luminous stars in our Milky Way Galaxy. It is about 60 times more massive than...

This Hubble image shows the massive galaxy cluster WHL J24.3324-8.477. The bright flash in the middle of the image is actually a star lying within our Milky Way Galaxy. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Focuses on Massive Galaxy Cluster

Oct 23, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows WHL J24.3324-8.477, a massive galaxy cluster some 7.1 billion light-years away in the...

EPIC 228732031b orbits so close to its parent star that a new year comes every 8.9 hours. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / TESS / MIT / Lincoln Laboratory.

Rocky Ultra-Short-Period Exoplanet Found Orbiting Yellow Dwarf

Oct 23, 2017 by Natali Anderson

An international team of astronomers has discovered a rocky exoplanet with an orbital period of 8.9 hours. EPIC 228732031b orbits so close to its parent...

Merging neutron stars. Image credit: Mark Garlick, University of Warwick.

Astronomers Confirm Origin of Universe’s Heaviest Elements in Neutron Star Mergers

Oct 17, 2017 by News Staff

Origin of Universe’s heavy elements, ranging from gold to uranium, has finally been confirmed, after a gravitational wave source was seen and heard for...

This artist’s impression shows two neutron stars at the point at which they merge and explode as a kilonova. Such a very rare event is expected to produce both gravitational waves and a short gamma-ray burst, both of which were observed on August 17, 2017, by LIGO and Virgo collaborations. Image credit: ESO / L. Calcada / M. Kornmesser.

Space- and Ground-Based Telescopes Catch Light from Gravitational-Wave Event GW170817

Oct 17, 2017 by News Staff

For the first time, astronomers have observed the source of gravitational waves, created by the merger of two neutron stars. The cataclysmic aftermaths...

NGC 2623 is in the late stages of the merging process, with the centers of the original galaxy pair now merged into one nucleus, but stretching out from the center are two tidal tails of young stars, a strong indicator that a merger has taken place. During such a collision, the dramatic exchange of mass and gases initiates star formation, seen here in both the tails. The prominent lower tail is richly populated with bright star clusters. These star clusters may have formed as part of a loop of stretched material associated with the northern tail, or they may have formed from debris falling back onto the nucleus. In addition to this active star-forming region, both galactic arms harbor very young stars in the early stages of their evolutionary journey. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Spots Twisted Cosmic Knot: NGC 2623

Oct 16, 2017 by News Staff

A jaw-dropping new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captures what appears to be a strange galaxy with two ‘tails,’ but is actually the...

This artist’s concept depicts a three-planet system. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Three-Planet System Found in Hyades Cluster

Oct 16, 2017 by Sergio Prostak

Astronomers using data from the NASA Kepler spacecraft’s reborn K2 mission have discovered a planetary system containing at least three exoplanets, orbiting...

This artist’s illustration shows a planet-eating star. Image credit: NASA / CXC / M.Weiss.

Astronomers Spot Planet-Eating Star 326 Light-Years Away

Oct 13, 2017 by News Staff

A research team led by Princeton University astrophysicists has discovered a co-moving pair of bright Sun-like stars, HD 240430 and HD 240429, with a significant...

This artist’s concept depicts Haumea and its ring. Image credit: Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia.

Astronomers Discover Ring around Dwarf Planet Haumea

Oct 13, 2017 by Natali Anderson

An international research team led by astronomers from the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC) in Spain has discovered a ring around Haumea,...

This artist’s rendering shows a giant exoplanet causing small bodies to collide in a disk of dust. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Want to Find Giant Exoplanet? Just Look for Young Stars with Debris Disks, Say Astronomers

Oct 12, 2017 by News Staff

A new study in the Astronomical Journal finds that giant exoplanets with long-period orbits are more likely to be found around young stars that have a...

This artist’s concept depicts Kepler-186f, the first validated Earth-size planet to orbit a distant star in the habitable zone. Image credit: NASA / Ames / SETI Institute / JPL-Caltech.

Solar Lensing Telescope: NASA Scientists Propose New Technique to Directly Image Surface of Distant Exoplanets

Oct 12, 2017 by News Staff

A space telescope placed far beyond the orbit of the dwarf planet Pluto could one day deliver high-resolution images of distant exoplanets, according to...

SMCN 2016-10a was discovered on October 14, 2016. Novae occur frequently in our Milky Way Galaxy, with a rate of around 35 each year, but SMCN 2016-10a is the first nova to have been detected in the Small Magellanic Cloud since 2012. Left: the nova system before eruption. Right: the nova system in outburst. Image credit: OGLE Survey.

Astronomers Discover One of Most Luminous Novae Ever

Oct 11, 2017 by News Staff

In a nearby dwarf galaxy called the Small Magellanic Cloud, astronomers have discovered possibly the most luminous nova ever. SMCN 2016-10a was discovered...

2012 TC4 appears as a dot at the center of this composite image of 37 individual 50-second exposures obtained with the FORS2 instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in 2012. The asteroid is marked with a circle for a better identification. Image credit: ESO / ESA NEOCC / Olivier Hainaut, ESO / Marco Micheli, ESA / Detlef Koschny, ESA.

Small Asteroid 2012 TC4 to Whiz Safely by Earth This Week

Oct 11, 2017 by News Staff

Back in October 2012, a small (45-100 feet, or 15-30 m) asteroid known as 2012 TC4 had a close encounter with Earth. It passed our planet at a distance...

Artist’s impression of Planet Nine. Image credit: Tom Ruen / ESO.

Astronomers Say Evidence is Growing for Existence of Planet Nine

Oct 10, 2017 by News Staff

There are now five different lines of observational evidence pointing to the existence of Planet Nine, a super-Earth-sized world about 20 times farther...

This image, taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys on board the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows the blue compact dwarf galaxy LEDA 17302. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Displays Blue Compact Dwarf Galaxy

Oct 9, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows a galaxy known as LEDA 17302. It is a galaxy type known as a blue compact dwarf galaxy. This image, taken...

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