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The white dwarf star Stein 2051B (center) is 17 light-years away and the background star is 5,000 light-years away. Image credit: NASA / ESA / K. Sahu, STScI.

Stein 2051B Shows How Gravity Can Bend Starlight

Jun 12, 2017 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observed the nearby white dwarf star Stein 2051B as it passed in front of a background star. During the close alignment,...

This illustration shows one possible scenario for the super-Earth HD 3167d. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

HD 3167d: New Super-Earth Discovered around Nearby Star

Jun 11, 2017 by Natali Anderson

Dr. Jessie Christiansen, a staff scientist at the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, and colleagues have discovered a ‘super-Earth’ exoplanet orbiting...

This image portrays a simulation of the Universe. Each of the tiniest of the dots denotes an entire galaxy. Matter in the Universe is arrayed on a series of filaments that surround vast voids. Image credit: Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics.

Milky Way Galaxy Resides in Enormous Cosmic Void

Jun 9, 2017 by News Staff

A new study by the University of Wisconsin-Madison supports the idea that our Milky Way Galaxy and its neighbors exist in one of the holes, or voids, of...

This artist’s impression displays TRAPPIST-1 and its planets reflected in a surface. Image credit: NASA / R. Hurt / T. Pyle.

Scientists Identify Possible Compositions of Seven TRAPPIST-1 Exoplanets

Jun 9, 2017 by News Staff

Using numerical simulations to identify planets stable for millions of years, a team of researchers concluded that six of the seven roughly Earth-sized...

This image shows a region of star formation where methyl isocyanate was found. The insert shows the molecular structure of this chemical. Image credit: L. Calcada / ESO / Digitized Sky Survey 2.

ALMA Detects Prebiotic Molecule in Multiple Protostar System

Jun 8, 2017 by News Staff

Astronomers have harnessed the power the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile to detect methyl isocyanate — a chemical building...

This illustration reveals how the gravitation of the white dwarf Stein 2051B warps space and bends the light of a distant star behind it. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captured images of Stein 2051B as it passed in front of the background star. During the close alignment, Stein 2051B deflected the starlight, which appeared offset by about 2 milli-arcseconds from its actual position. From this measurement, astronomers calculated that the white dwarf’s mass is roughly 68% of the Sun’s mass. Image credit: NASA / ESA / A. Field, STScI.

Hubble Measures Deflection of Star’s Light by Foreground White Dwarf

Jun 7, 2017 by News Staff

The first observation of displacement of a star due to bending of its light by another celestial body other than our Sun is revealed in new research. This...

Composite image of the Boomerang Nebula: ALMA observations (orange) showing the hourglass-shaped outflow, which is embedded inside a roughly round ultra-cold outflow; the hourglass outflow stretches more than 1.9 trillion miles from end to end, and is the result of a jet that is being fired by the central star, sweeping up the inner regions of the ultra-cold outflow like a snow-plow; the ultra-cold outflow is about 10 times bigger. The ALMA data are shown on top of an image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (blue). Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / NASA / ESA / Hubble / AUI / NSF.

ALMA Probes Boomerang Nebula, Universe’s Coldest Known Object

Jun 6, 2017 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) may have solved the mystery of the coldest known object in the cosmos —...

KELT-9b: Newly-Discovered ‘Hot Jupiter’ Hotter Than Most Stars

Jun 6, 2017 by News Staff

A newly-discovered Jupiter-like exoplanet called KELT-9b is only 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit (927 degrees Celsius, or 1,200 degrees Kelvin) cooler than our...

This series of dots with varying distances between them shows the slow dance of two members of the brown-dwarf binary system Luhman 16AB. The image is a stack of 12 images made over the course of three years with Hubble. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / L. Bedin et al.

Hubble Observes Graceful Dance of Luhman 16AB Brown Dwarfs

Jun 5, 2017 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers have used the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to track the two components of Luhman 16AB, the third closest system to the Solar System. This...

Artist’s impression of a T-dwarf. Image credit: R. Hurt / NASA.

First Discovery for ‘Backyard Worlds: Planet 9’ Project: Cold Brown Dwarf

Jun 3, 2017 by Sergio Prostak

Professional and citizen astronomers with the NASA-funded ‘Backyard Worlds: Planet 9’ project have made their first significant discovery: a new brown...

This artist’s concept depicts a super-Earth-size exoplanet. Image credit: NASA Ames / JPL-Caltech / T. Pyle.

Gliese 625b: Potentially Habitable Super-Earth Spotted 21 Light-Years Away

Jun 1, 2017 by Sergio Prostak

Astronomers have discovered a super-Earth exoplanet orbiting the red dwarf star Gliese 625. This artist’s concept depicts a super-Earth-size exoplanet....

Ringed Gas Giant Discovered Orbiting Young Star PDS 110

May 31, 2017 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers have identified that the light from PDS 110 is regularly blocked by a large object — and they predict that these eclipses are caused...

This composite image shows the central region of the Milky Way Galaxy. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ESA / CXC / STScI.

Astrophysicists Solve Mystery of How Most Antimatter in Milky Way Galaxy Forms

May 30, 2017 by News Staff

Australian National University astrophysicist Dr. Roland Crocker and his colleagues from Europe, New Zealand, Australia and the United States have shown...

The Sun-like star HD 107146 sits at the centre of this Hubble/STIS image. The position of the star is marked with a green circle. The Vermin Galaxy is visible as the smudge to the lower right. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Space Telescope Views Vermin Galaxy

May 29, 2017 by News Staff

A new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows a distant galaxy as it begins to align with and pass behind a Sun-like star sitting nearer to...

This pair of visible-light and near-infrared Hubble photos shows N6946-BH1 before and after it vanished out of sight by imploding to form a black hole. The left image shows the star as it looked in 2007. In 2009, the star shot up in brightness to become over 1 million times more luminous than our Sun for several months. But then it seemed to vanish, as seen in the right panel image from 2015. A small amount of IR light has been detected from where the star used to be. This radiation probably comes from debris falling onto a black hole. Image credit: NASA / ESA / C. Kochanek, Ohio State University.

Red Supergiant Fails to Explode as Supernova, Collapses into Black Hole

May 26, 2017 by News Staff

Astronomers have watched as N6946-BH1, a red supergiant with a mass of 25 solar masses in the spiral galaxy NGC 6946, was likely reborn as a black hole. This...

An artist’s impression of a quasar and neighboring merging galaxy. The galaxies observed by Decarli et al are so distant that no detailed images are possible at present. This combination of images of nearby counterparts gives an impression of how they might look in more detail. Image credit: Max Planck Institute for Astronomy / NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Astronomers Discover New Kind of Galaxy: Rapidly Star-Forming Galaxies from Early Universe

May 25, 2017 by News Staff

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have discovered a new kind of galaxy which, although very old — formed...

Artist’s conception of the newly-discovered object orbiting the main, central supermassive black hole of the galaxy Cygnus A. Image credit: Bill Saxton / NRAO / AUI / NSF.

Astronomers Spot Bright New Object near Cygnus A Galaxy’s Central Black Hole

May 24, 2017 by News Staff

Pointing the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) at the well-known and often-studied galaxy Cygnus A for the first time in more than 20 years, astronomers...

TRAPPIST-1h is shown as covered in ice, similar to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa. Image credit: NASA.

Kepler’s K2 Mission Spies Details of Exoplanet TRAPPIST-1h

May 23, 2017 by News Staff

Astronomers have used data gathered by K2, the second mission of NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope, to confirm details of TRAPPIST-1h, the outermost of seven...

Very intense radiation from EZ Canis Majoris pushes Sh2-308 out further and further, blowing it bigger and bigger. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Spots Bubble-Like Cloud of Gas around EZ Canis Majoris

May 22, 2017 by News Staff

This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows part of a bubble nebula, called Sh2-308, surrounding the massive star EZ Canis Majoris. Very...