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This image shows how stellar orbits in the Milky Way Galaxy can change. It shows two pairs of stars, marked as red and blue, in which each pair started in the same orbit, and then one star in the pair changed orbits. The star marked as red has completed its move into a new orbit, while the star marked in blue is still moving. Image credit: Dana Berry / SkyWorks Digital, Inc. / SDSS collaboration.

New Map of Milky Way Galaxy Reveals Stars Migrate Far from Birthplaces

Aug 4, 2015 by News Staff

A multinational team of astronomers with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-III (SDSS) has produced a new map of our home Milky Way Galaxy and determined that...

This collage of radar images of 1999 JD6 was collected by NASA scientists on July 25, 2015. The asteroid appears to be a contact binary. These views, which are radar echoes, were obtained by pairing NASA's 230-foot-wide Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, California, with the 330-foot Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia. Using this approach, the Goldstone antenna beams a radar signal at an asteroid and Green Bank receives the reflections. The technique, referred to as a bistatic observation, dramatically improves the amount of detail that can be seen in radar images. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / GSSR.

Astronomers Capture Radar Images of Near-Earth Asteroid 1999 JD6

Aug 4, 2015 by News Staff

Using NSF’s Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia and NASA’s Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, California, astronomers bounced radar signals...

This Hubble image shows the center of the Lagoon Nebula. The region is filled with intense winds from hot stars, churning funnels of gas, and energetic star formation, all embedded within an intricate haze of gas and pitch-dark dust. Image credit: NASA / ESA / J. Trauger, JPL.

Hubble Space Telescope Snaps Amazing Image of Lagoon Nebula

Aug 3, 2015 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a stunning new image of the Lagoon Nebula, one of the finest and brightest star-forming regions known...

This Hubble image of the planetary nebula NGC 6818 (Little Gem Nebula) shows two layers of gas (with dust): a spherical outer region and a brighter, vase-shaped interior bubble. Image credit: ESA / Hubble / NASA / Judy Schmidt, geckzilla.com.

Hubble Captures Amazing Photo of Little Gem Nebula

Aug 3, 2015 by News Staff

The Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 on board the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a stunning image of a planetary nebula called NGC 6818. This...

This graphic illustrates how a star can magnify and brighten the light of a background star when it passes in front of the distant star. If the foreground star has planets, then the planets may also magnify the light of the background star, but for a much shorter period of time than their host star. Astronomers use this method, called gravitational microlensing, to identify planets. Image credit: NASA / ESA / A. Field, STScI.

Astronomers Confirm Failed-Jupiter Exoplanet around Distant Star

Jul 31, 2015 by News Staff

Using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii, two teams of astronomers have independently confirmed the existence of...

This artist’s impression shows the super-Earth exoplanet HD 219134b. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

HD 219134: Three Super-Earths Found Orbiting Star 21 Light-Years Away

Jul 30, 2015 by News Staff

Using the HARPS-N spectrograph on the Italian Telescopio Nazionale Galileo at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (Canary Islands), astronomers have...

Artist’s impression of an auroral display on a brown dwarf. Image credit: Chuck Carter / Gregg Hallinan / Caltech.

Brown Dwarfs Host Powerful Aurora Displays, Astronomers Say

Jul 29, 2015 by News Staff

A team of astronomers from the United States and Europe has discovered that brown dwarfs – the so-called failed stars – host powerful auroras...

This image shows Nova Centauri 2013 (brightest star in the center) in July 2015. This was more than eighteen months after the initial explosive outburst. Image credit: ESO.

Astronomers Detect Lithium in Nova for First Time

Jul 29, 2015 by News Staff

Using the MPG/ESO 2.2-m telescope at the La Silla Observatory and the ESO 0.5-m telescope at the Observatory of the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de...

This Hubble image shows the planetary nebula NGC 6565. Image credit: ESA / Hubble / NASA / M. Novak.

Hubble Space Telescope Looks at NGC 6565

Jul 27, 2015 by News Staff

The Wide-Field Planetary Camera 2 aboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured this image of NGC 6565. This Hubble image shows the planetary...

X-ray evidence from NASA’s Chandra Observatory suggests that a clump of stellar material has been jettisoned away from the binary system B1259 at incredibly high speeds. Image credit: NASA / CXC / M.Weiss.

NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory Zooms in on Violent Binary Star System

Jul 24, 2015 by News Staff

X-rays from NASA’s Chandra Observatory reveal that a fast-moving pulsar in orbit around a massive star punched a hole in a circumstellar disk of material...

Kepler-452b: Astronomers Discover Super-Earth in Habitable Zone of Sun-Like Star

Jul 23, 2015 by News Staff

Using NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered a super-Earth exoplanet in the ‘habitable zone’ of a G2-type star called Kepler-452. This...

Astronomers Peer into Internal Structure of ‘Normal’ Galaxies in Early Universe

Jul 22, 2015 by News Staff

A team of astronomers – led by Dr Roberto Maiolino from the University of Cambridge, UK – has detected the most distant clouds of star-forming...

This image shows the dwarf galaxy NGC 1140. Image credit: ESA / Hubble / NASA.

NGC 1140: Astronomers Zero in on Dwarf Irregular Starburst Galaxy

Jul 20, 2015 by News Staff

Using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have captured an incredible image of the dwarf galaxy NGC 1140. This image shows the dwarf galaxy...

Gaia 14aae: Astronomers Discover Unique Binary Star

Jul 17, 2015 by News Staff

Using ESA’s Gaia satellite, a large multinational group of astronomers has discovered a unique binary star system: the first known such binary where...

An artist’s rendering shows an exoplanet called HIP 11915b around the Sun-like star HIP 11915. Image credit: ESO / M. Kornmesser.

HIP 11915b: Jupiter Twin Found Orbiting Sun-Like Star

Jul 15, 2015 by News Staff

Using the HARPS planet-hunting instrument on the 3.6-m telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory, Chile, astronomers have discovered a Jupiter-mass exoplanet...

This new Hubble image shows a massive open star cluster known as the Quintuplet Cluster in infrared light. Image credit: ESA / Hubble / NASA.

Hubble Sees Quintuplet Cluster in Infrared Light

Jul 13, 2015 by News Staff

The Wide Field Camera 3 on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a stunning image of the Quintuplet Cluster, a very dense cluster of young stars...

This illustration shows a black hole that grew faster than its host galaxy. Image credit: Michael S. Helfenbein / Yale University.

Astronomers Discover Monstrous Black Hole in Early Universe

Jul 13, 2015 by News Staff

A multinational team of astronomers has spotted an oversized black hole in the center of a typical star-forming galaxy, called CID-947. This illustration...

This Hubble image shows the galaxy ESO 381-12. The strikingly uneven structure and the clusters of stars that orbit around the galaxy suggest that ESO 381-12 may have been part of a dramatic collision sometime in its relatively recent past. Image credit: NASA / ESA / P. Goudfrooij, STScI.

Hubble Zooms in on Ghostly Shells of Lenticular Galaxy

Jul 10, 2015 by News Staff

The Advanced Camera for Surveys on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has produced this beautiful image of the galaxy ESO 381-12. This Hubble image shows...

This artist’s impression shows a supernova and associated gamma-ray burst driven by a rapidly spinning magnetar. Image credit: ESO.

Ultra-Long Gamma-Ray Bursts are Driven by Magnetars, Astronomers Say

Jul 9, 2015 by News Staff

A team of astronomers led by Dr Jochen Greiner of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Germany, has demonstrated a link between the bright...