Astronomy News

3I/ATLAS May Be Oldest Comet Ever Seen, Astronomers Say

Top view of the Milky Way showing the estimated orbits of both our Sun and 3I/ATLAS. The comet is shown in red dashed lines, and the Sun is shown in yellow dotted lines. The large extent of the comet’s orbit into the outer thick disk is clear, while the Sun stays nearer the core of the Galaxy. Image credit: M. Hopkins / Ōtautahi-Oxford Team / ESA / Gaia / DPAC / Stefan Payne-Wardenaar / CC-BY-SA 4.0.
Jul 11, 2025 by News Staff

3I/ATLAS — the second interstellar comet ever spotted in our cosmic neighborhood — may predate our Solar System by more than 3 billion years, according to a research team led by University of Oxford astronomer Matthew Hopkins. Top view of the Milky Way showing the estimated orbits of both our Sun and 3I/ATLAS. The comet is shown in red dashed lines, and the Sun is shown in yellow dotted lines. The large extent of the comet’s orbit into...

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Ramiro Saide et al. explored how hidden electromagnetic leakage might look to extraterrestrials up to 200 light-years from Earth, if they had state-of-the-art radio telescopes like our own. Image credit: Gemini AI.

Civilian and Military Radar Leakage is Revealing Our Existence to Alien Civilizations, Study Suggests

Jul 8, 2025 by News Staff

In a new study, a team of researchers from the University of Manchester performed comprehensive simulations of Earth’s radar systems as potential technosignatures...

This VLT/FORS2 image, taken on July 3, 2025, shows the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. Image credit: ESO / O. Hainaut.

VLT Captures New Images of Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

Jul 8, 2025 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have captured new images of 3I/ATLAS, the third interstellar object ever observed. This VLT/FORS2...

An AI impression of a dark dwarf. Image credit: Gemini AI.

Dark Dwarfs May Reveal True Nature of Dark Matter

Jul 8, 2025 by News Staff

Dark dwarfs are hypothetical dark matter-powered objects that formed from the cooling of brown dwarfs, according to a team of astronomers from Durham University,...

The structure of low-density amorphous ice: many tiny crystallites (white) are concealed in the amorphous material (blue). Image credit: Michael B. Davies, UCL & University of Cambridge.

Interstellar Amorphous Ice Contains Tiny Crystals, New Research Reveals

Jul 7, 2025 by News Staff

Low-density amorphous ice is one of the most common solid materials in the Universe and a key material for understanding the many famous anomalies of liquid...

This Hubble image shows Abell 209, a galaxy cluster located about 2.8 billion light-years away in the constellation of Cetus. The color image includes both optical and infrared observations from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). Twelve 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 / M. Postman / P. Kelly.

Hubble Spots More Than Hundred Galaxies in Abell 209

Jul 7, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Abell 209 is a massive galaxy cluster located about 2.8 billion light-years away in the constellation of Cetus. This Hubble image shows Abell 209, a galaxy...

The discovery image of 3I/ATLAS from the ATLAS telescope. Image credit: University of Hawai’i.

Astronomers Track Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

Jul 4, 2025 by News Staff

3I/ATLAS is only the third object of its kind ever observed, following the interstellar asteroid 1I/ʻOumuamua in 2017 and the interstellar comet 2I/Borisov...

This artist’s impression of the formation of a galaxy in the early Universe featuring clumps of star-forming galaxies, with carbon gas shown in red, and dark dust shown in black. This process is documented in detail throughout the many galaxies observed in ALMA’s CRISTAL survey. Image credit: NSF / AUI / NRAO / B. Saxton.

ALMA Shines New Light on Galaxies in Early Universe

Jul 3, 2025 by News Staff

As part of the CRISTAL (CII Resolved ISM in STar-forming galaxies with ALMA) survey, astronomers peered back to when the Universe was only about one billion...

This image, taken with the iTelescope.Net T72 telescope at Rio Hurtado, Chile, on July 2, 2025, shows the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. Image credit: Filipp Romanov / CC BY-SA 4.0.

Astronomers Discover Third-Ever Interstellar Object: 3I/ATLAS

Jul 3, 2025 by News Staff

After the interstellar asteroid 1I/ʻOumuamua and the interstellar comet 2I/Borisov, 3I/ATLAS is the third object and the second comet from outside the...

An artist’s impression of the young planetary system HIP 67522. Image credit: J. Fohlmeister, AIP.

Recently-Discovered Exoplanet Triggers Flares on Its Parent Star

Jul 2, 2025 by News Staff

The hot-Jupiter exoplanet HIP 67522b orbits its parent star, HIP 67522, so tightly that it appears to cause frequent flares from the star’s surface,...

This image, taken with the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), shows the supernova remnant SNR 0509-67.5 -- the expanding remains of a star that exploded hundreds of years ago in a double-detonation. Calcium is shown in blue, and it is arranged in two concentric shells. These two layers indicate that the star exploded with a double-detonation. Image credit: ESO / Das et al. / Noll et al.

VLT Captures Image of Double-Detonation Supernova Remnant

Jul 2, 2025 by News Staff

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have imaged SNR 0509-67.5, a very young (300-350 years old) remnant of Type Ia supernova, and spotted...

This Webb/MIRI image shows the central part of the starburst galaxy Messier 82. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / A. Bolatto.

Webb Zooms In on Central Region of Messier 82

Jul 1, 2025 by News Staff

Using the Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) aboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have captured a stunning infrared image of central...

This Hubble image shows GN 04.32.8, a reflection nebula some 480 light-years away in the constellation of Taurus. The color composite was assembled from images taken in visible and near-infrared light. It is based on data obtained through two filters. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / G. Duchêne.

Hubble Spots Reflection Nebula in Taurus Molecular Cloud

Jun 30, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have produced an outstanding image of the reflection nebula GN 04.32.8. This Hubble image shows GN...

Webb/NIRCam composite images of a quarter of the team’s sample sorted by increasing redshift. Image credit: Tsukui et al., doi: 10.1093/mnras/staf604.

Webb Sheds New Light on Structural Evolution of Disk Galaxies

Jun 27, 2025 by News Staff

Present-day disk galaxies often exhibit distinct thin and thick disks. The formation mechanisms of the two disks and the timing of their onset remain open...

This new composite image of the Andromeda galaxy includes X-rays from Chandra and XMM-Newton (represented in red, green, and blue); ultraviolet data from GALEX (blue); optical data from astrophotographers using ground based telescopes (Jakob Sahner and Tarun Kottary); infrared data from Spitzer, the Infrared Astronomy Satellite, COBE, Planck, and Herschel (red, orange, and purple); and radio data from the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (red-orange). Image credit: NASA.

New Image Shows Andromeda Galaxy as We’ve Never Seen It Before

Jun 27, 2025 by News Staff

Using data from several space- and ground-based telescopes, NASA astronomers have captured a stunning new image of the Andromeda galaxy, which is the closest...

This Webb/MIRI image shows the Saturn-mass exoplanet TWA 7b. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / A.M. Lagrange / M. Zamani, ESA & Webb.

Webb Detects Saturn-Mass Exoplanet Candidate around Young Star TWA 7

Jun 26, 2025 by News Staff

Astronomers have used the unprecedented sensitivity of the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) onboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope in the thermal...

This composite combines 678 separate images, taken by NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory in just over seven hours of observing time, and shows the Trifid (top right) and Lagoon nebulae. Image credit: RubinObs / NOIRLab / SLAC / NSF / DOE / AURA.

Vera C. Rubin Observatory Releases Its First Images

Jun 24, 2025 by News Staff

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory is a major new scientific facility jointly funded by NSF and the U.S. DoE’s Office of Science. The new images are a small...

This Hubble image shows UGC 11397, a barred spiral galaxy some 250 million light-years away in the constellation of Lyra. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / M.J. Koss / A.J. Barth.

Hubble Space Telescope Captures Image of Active Spiral Galaxy

Jun 23, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shot this image of UGC 11397, a barred spiral galaxy that is hosting an actively growing supermassive black hole. This...

This artist’s impression shows a field of Population III stars as they would have appeared a mere 100 million years after the Big Bang. Image credit: NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. da Silva / Spaceengine.

Cosmological Radio Signal Will Help Astronomers Detect Universe’s First-Generation Stars

Jun 20, 2025 by News Staff

The first generation of stars (Population III) must have formed from the unenriched gas that permeated the infant Universe. These stars produced the first...

This VLT/MUSE image shows a detailed, thousand-color image of NGC 253. Image credit: ESO / Congiu et al.

VLT Captures Most Detailed Image Ever of NGC 253

Jun 18, 2025 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have observed the active starburst (star-forming)...

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