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Composite image of the Fomalhaut star system. The ALMA data, shown in orange, reveal the distant and eccentric debris disk in never-before-seen detail. The central dot is the unresolved emission from the star, which is about twice the mass of our Sun. Optical data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is in blue; the dark region is a coronagraphic mask, which filtered out the otherwise overwhelming light of the central star. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / M. MacGregor / NASA / ESA / Hubble / P. Kalas / B. Saxton / AUI / NSF.

ALMA Provides First Complete Image of Fomalhaut’s Debris Disk

May 18, 2017 by News Staff

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have made the first complete millimeter-wavelength image of the ring of dusty...

Light and color would look different on a planet orbiting a tiny red star, like this artist’s impression of Proxima b. The Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone is the nearest exoplanet to our Sun. Image credit: ESO / M. Kornmesser.

Proxima b: Researchers Take First Steps to Explore Climate of Nearby Exoplanet

May 17, 2017 by News Staff

A team of astrophysicists and meteorology experts from the University of Exeter and the UK’s Met Office have embarked on the first, tentative steps to...

This is an artist’s rendering of the styrofoam-density exoplanet KELT-11b. Image credit: Walter Robinson, Lehigh University.

KELT-11b: ‘Puffy’ Gas Giant Found 320 Light-Years Away

May 16, 2017 by News Staff

A multinational team of astronomers led by Lehigh University researcher Joshua Pepper has discovered a ‘styrofoam’-density exoplanet orbiting the bright...

This composite image of the Crab Nebula was assembled by combining data from five telescopes spanning nearly the entire breadth of the electromagnetic spectrum: the VLA (radio) in red; Spitzer (infrared) in yellow; Hubble (visible) in green; XMM-Newton (ultraviolet) in blue; and Chandra (X-ray) in purple. Image credit: NASA / ESA / NRAO / AUI / NSF / G. Dubner, University of Buenos Aires.

Stunning New View of Crab Nebula

May 12, 2017 by News Staff

Astronomers created this composite image of the Crab Nebula — a 10-light-year-wide remnant of a supernova explosion — by combining data from...

The atmosphere of the Neptune-mass exoplanet HAT-P-26b is unexpectedly primitive, composed primarily of hydrogen and helium. By combining observations from Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes, Wakeford et al determined that, unlike Neptune and Uranus, the exoplanet has relatively low metallicity. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

HAT-P-26b: Unexpectedly Primitive Atmosphere Discovered around Neptune-Mass Exoplanet

May 12, 2017 by News Staff

Astronomers have discovered that HAT-P-26b — a ‘warm Neptune’ orbiting a dwarf star approximately 437 light-years from Earth — has an atmosphere...

This global view of Io was obtained by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft on 19 September 1997 at a range of more than 500,000 km (310,000 miles). In this image, deposits of sulfur dioxide frost appear in white and grey hues while yellowish and brownish hues are probably due to other sulfurous materials. Bright red materials and ‘black’ spots with low brightness mark areas of recent volcanic activity and are usually associated with high temperatures and surface changes. Image credit: NASA / JPL / University of Arizona.

Astronomers Create Detailed Map of Loki Patera, Most Active Volcanic Site on Jupiter’s Moon Io

May 11, 2017 by News Staff

Taking advantage of a rare orbital alignment between Jupiter’s moons Io and Europa, a research team led by scientists at the University of California...

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

TRAPPIST-1 System’s Planetary Harmonies Save It from Destruction

May 11, 2017 by News Staff

The recently discovered TRAPPIST-1 planetary system has a unique configuration, according to new research from the University of Toronto, Canada. This...

An artist’s conception of SIMP0136, a planetary-like member of the 200-million-year-old Carina-Near group. Image credit: NASA / JPL / Jonathan Gagne.

One of Nearest Brown Dwarfs is Actually Free-Floating Giant Planet, Astronomers Say

May 10, 2017 by News Staff

A team of astronomers led by the Carnegie Institution has discovered that what scientists had previously thought was one of the closest brown dwarfs to...

This Hubble image shows the unusual object LEDA 18516. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Image Captures Collision of Two Spiral Galaxies

May 8, 2017 by News Staff

This new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captures an ongoing cosmic collision between two massive galaxies. This Hubble image shows the...

With the final observation of the distant galaxy cluster Abell 370 -- approximately 6 billion light-years away -- the Frontier Fields program came to an end. Abell 370 is one of the very first galaxy clusters in which astronomers observed the phenomenon of gravitational lensing, the warping of spacetime by the cluster’s gravitational field that distorts the light from galaxies lying far behind it. This manifests as arcs and streaks in the picture, which are the stretched images of background galaxies. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / HST Frontier Fields.

Abell 370: Hubble Team Releases New ‘Frontier Fields’ Image

May 4, 2017 by News Staff

This new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is one of the best ever views of the massive galaxy cluster Abell 370. The image (hi-res version)...

This VISTA image of the Small Magellanic Cloud shows millions of stars. Image credit: ESO / VISTA / VMC.

VISTA Telescope Takes Biggest Infrared Image Ever of Small Magellanic Cloud

May 3, 2017 by News Staff

This enormous image (zoomable version), captured with ESO’s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope (VISTA), is the largest infrared image (43,223 x 38,236...

Artist’s illustration of the Epsilon Eridani system. In the right foreground, the Jupiter-mass planet Epsilon Eridani b is shown orbiting its star at the outside edge of an asteroid belt. In the background can be seen another narrow asteroid or comet belt plus an outermost belt similar in size to our Solar System’s Kuiper Belt. The similarity of the structure of the Epsilon Eridani system to our Solar System is remarkable, although Epsilon Eridani is much younger than our Sun. Image credit: NASA / SOFIA / Lynette Cook.

Epsilon Eridani System is Remarkably Similar to Our Own

May 3, 2017 by News Staff

New observations from the joint German-U.S. Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), the largest airborne observatory in the world, indicate...

This X-ray image of the hot gas in the Perseus Cluster was made from 16 days of Chandra observations. An oval highlights the location of an enormous wave found to be rolling through the gas. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Stephen Walker et al.

Astronomers Find Enormous Wave of Hot Gas Rolling through Nearby Galaxy Cluster

May 2, 2017 by News Staff

A wave spanning 200,000 light-years (about twice the size of our Milky Way Galaxy) is rolling through the Perseus Cluster, according to observations from...

This image snapped by Hubble’s WFC3 camera shows the spiral galaxy NGC 5917, which lies in the constellation Libra, about 87 million light-years away. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Space Telescope Looks at NGC 5917

May 1, 2017 by Sergio Prostak

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured this stunning image of the spiral galaxy NGC 5917. This image snapped by Hubble’s WFC3 camera shows...

This artist’s concept shows the Earth-mass exoplanet OGLE-2016-BLG-1195Lb. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Frozen Earth-Mass Exoplanet Discovered 12,750 Light-Years Away

Apr 28, 2017 by Natali Anderson

Using a planet-hunting technique called gravitational microlensing, astronomers have detected an Earth-mass planet orbiting an ultracool dwarf 12,750 light-years...

Map of the cosmic microwave background; the insets show the environment of the Cold Spot. The angular diameter of the vast supervoid aligned with the Cold Spot, which exceeds 30 degrees, is marked by the white circles. Image credit: ESA Planck Collaboration / Gergö Kránicz.

When Universes Collide: Galaxy Redshift Survey Hints at Exotic Origin for Mysterious ‘Cold Spot’

Apr 26, 2017 by News Staff

According to the results of a redshift survey of nearly 7,000 galaxies, a gigantic ‘hole’ in the Universe is unlikely to explain a ‘Cold Spot’...

This image shows the irregular galaxy NGC 7250, which lies in the constellation Lacerta, about 31 million light-years away. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Observes Irregular Galaxy NGC 7250

Apr 24, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has produced this beautiful image of the galaxy NGC 7250. This image shows the irregular galaxy NGC 7250, which lies...

Hubble’s view on iPTF16geu. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Spots Multiply-Imaged, Gravitationally Lensed Type Ia Supernova

Apr 21, 2017 by News Staff

The powerful vision of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has allowed astronomers to analyze for the first time the multiple images of a gravitationally...

The Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in Green Bank, West Virginia, the United States. Image credit: Jiuguang Wang / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Breakthrough Listen Search for Intelligent Life: First Results

Apr 21, 2017 by Natali Anderson

Breakthrough Listen — the largest ever research program aimed at finding evidence of intelligent life beyond Earth — has released its eleven...