Astronomy News | Sci.News

Universe is Expanding Uniformly, Scientists Say

Sep 23, 2016 by News Staff

The Universe is not spinning or stretched in any particular direction, according to a team of researchers from University College London and Imperial College...

Astronomers Confirm Existence of Giant Circumbinary Exoplanet 8,000 Light-Years Away

Sep 22, 2016 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have confirmed the existence of a Saturn-mass exoplanet in the binary system OGLE-2007-BLG-349L,...

A trove of galaxies, rich in carbon monoxide (indicating star-forming potential) were imaged by ALMA (orange) in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. The blue features are galaxies imaged by Hubble. Image credit: B. Saxton / NRAO / AUI / NSF / ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NASA / ESA / Hubble.

ALMA Probes Hubble Ultra Deep Field

Sep 22, 2016 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array have explored the same corner of the early Universe first revealed in the iconic image...

This image shows the Lyman-alpha blob LAB-1. This picture is a composite of two different images taken with the FORS instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope - a wider image showing the surrounding galaxies and a much deeper observation of the blob itself at the center made to detect its polarization. The intense Lyman-alpha ultraviolet radiation from LAB-1 appears green after it has been stretched by the expansion of the Universe during its long journey to Earth. These new observations show for the first time that the light from this object is polarized. This means that the giant ‘blob’ must be powered by galaxies embedded within the cloud. Image credit: M. Hayes / ESO.

Astronomers Unravel Mystery of Gigantic Lyman-Alpha Blobs

Sep 21, 2016 by News Staff

This image shows the Lyman-alpha blob LAB-1. This picture is a composite of two different images taken with the FORS instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope...

This Hubble image shows the barred spiral galaxy Messier 77; the streaks of red and blue in the image highlight pockets of star formation along the pinwheeling arms, with dark dust lanes stretching across the galaxy’s starry center; the galaxy belongs to a class of galaxies known as Seyfert galaxies, which have highly ionized gas surrounding an intensely active center. Image credit: NASA / ESA / A. van der Hoeven.

ALMA Finds Cosmic Fountain at Center of Messier 77

Sep 20, 2016 by News Staff

This Hubble image shows the barred spiral galaxy Messier 77; the streaks of red and blue in the image highlight pockets of star formation along the pinwheeling...

This image captured by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 shows a dust-bathed cluster of fragments receding from the main nucleus of Comet 332P/Ikeya-Murakami at speeds in the range of 0.06 - 3.5 m/s. The nucleus of the comet is the bright object at lower left. This observation was made on January 27, 2016. Image credit: NASA / ESA / D. Jewitt, University of California at Los Angeles.

Hubble Images Reveal 332P/Ikeya-Murakami Disintegrating as It Approaches the Sun

Sep 19, 2016 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured one of the most detailed observations of a comet breaking apart. This image captured by Hubble’s Wide...

This image from ESO’s Very Large Telescope shows Markarian 1018, a galaxy located approximately 607 million light-years away. The faint loops of light around the galaxy are a result of its interaction and merger with another galaxy in the recent past. Image credit: CARS Survey / ESO.

Black Hole Duo Returns Active Galaxy Markarian 1018 to the Shadows

Sep 15, 2016 by News Staff

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope and NASA’s Chandra and Hubble space telescopes have solved the mystery of a rare change in the behavior...

ESA Releases Gaia’s Billion-Star Map of Milky Way Galaxy

Sep 15, 2016 by News Staff

On its way to assembling the most detailed 3D map ever made of our Galaxy, ESA’s Gaia spacecraft has pinned down the precise position on the sky and...

The first detection of Pluto in X-rays has been made using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. The main panel in this graphic is an optical image taken from New Horizons on its approach to Pluto, while the inset shows an image of Pluto in X-rays from Chandra. There is a significant difference in scale between the optical and X-ray images. New Horizons made a close flyby of Pluto but Chandra is located near the Earth, so the level of detail visible in the two images is very different. The Chandra image is 180,000 miles across at the distance of Pluto, but the planet is only 1,500 miles across. Pluto is detected in the X-ray image as a point source, showing the sharpest level of detail available for Chandra or any other X-ray observatory. This means that details over scales that are smaller than the X-ray source cannot be seen here. Image credit: X-ray – NASA / CXC / JHUAPL / R.McNutt et al; optical – NASA / JHUAPL.

NASA’s Chandra Observatory Detects X-Rays from Pluto

Sep 14, 2016 by News Staff

Using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers have made the first detections of X-rays from Pluto. This X-ray emission comes from interaction between...

Artist’s impression of the dust disk and a forming Neptune-like planet around TW Hydrae. Image credit: NAOJ.

Astronomers Spot Formation Site of Neptune-Like Exoplanet

Sep 14, 2016 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have found signs of a growing Neptune-like planet in the protoplanetary disk...

This image of the Stingray Nebula was taken with Hubble’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 in 1998. In the center of the nebula the fast evolving star SAO 244567 is located. Observations made within the last 45 years showed that the surface temperature of the star increased by almost 40,000 degree Celsius. Now new observations of the spectra of the star have revealed that SAO 244567 has started to cool again. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Observes Rapidly Evolving Central Star of Stingray Nebula

Sep 13, 2016 by News Staff

Using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have been able to study stellar evolution in real time. This image of the Stingray Nebula was taken...

This image snapped by Hubble’s ACS instrument shows PGC 83677, a lenticular galaxy located 300 million light-years away in the constellation of Coma Berenices. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Judy Schmidt, www.geckzilla.com.

Hubble Captures Image of Little-Known Lenticular Galaxy

Sep 12, 2016 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured this vivid image of lenticular galaxy PGC 83677. This image snapped by Hubble’s ACS instrument shows...

This artist’s conception illustrates what a T-type brown dwarf might look like. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Astronomers Find 165 Brown Dwarfs in Solar Neighborhood

Sep 11, 2016 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers has discovered 165 new ultracool brown dwarfs — objects that have a size between that of a gas giant and that...

This Hubble image shows the globular cluster NGC 6101. Globular clusters are spherical collections of old stars (10-13 billion years old) which orbit around a galactic center. Image credit: NASA / ESA.

NGC 6101: Star Cluster with Hundreds of Black Holes?

Sep 9, 2016 by News Staff

Computer simulations of a globular cluster called NGC 6101 reveal that it contains several hundreds of stellar-mass black holes, until now thought impossible. This...

This Hubble Space Telescope image shows the star cluster Terzan 5. Image credit: F. Ferraro / NASA / ESA / ESO.

Astronomers: Star Cluster Terzan 5 is ‘Living Fossil’

Sep 7, 2016 by News Staff

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope, the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the Keck Telescope have revealed the unusual mix of stars in the...

This truly gorgeous new Hubble image shows N159, a star-forming region within the Large Magellanic Cloud. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Space Telescope Observes Cosmic Maelstrom

Sep 5, 2016 by News Staff

This new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows a maelstrom of gas and dust within the Large Magellanic Cloud, a neighboring dwarf galaxy...

Artist’s concept of giant planets orbiting in double-star system. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / T. Pyle.

Astronomers Discover Three Giant Exoplanets in ‘Twin’ Binary System

Sep 2, 2016 by Sergio Prostak

An international team of astronomers from the United States and Chile has detected three giant planets in the HD 133131 system, a pair of stellar ‘twins’...

The Sun’s corona and solar wind. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Lisa Poje.

Latest Images from NASA’s STEREO Spacecraft Reveal Origins of Solar Wind

Sep 1, 2016 by News Staff

The details of the transition from defined rays in the upper atmosphere of the Sun to the solar wind have always been a mystery. Using NASA’s STEREO...

Earth-Moon system. Image credit: Comfreak.

Moon Mission Could Reveal the Story of Earth’s Journey around the Milky Way

Sep 1, 2016 by James Romero

A researcher’s proposal for an ESA mission to return to the Moon could lay the groundwork for a full-surface geological survey from a permanent lunar...