Astronomy News

New Method Helps Detect Signs of Primordial Galaxies

These panels show different components of near-infrared background light detected by the NASA/ ESA Hubble Space Telescope in deep-sky surveys. The one on the upper left is a mosaic of images taken over a ten-year period. When all the stars and galaxies are masked, the background signals can be isolated, as seen in the second and third panels. The one on the upper right reveals ‘intrahalo light’ from rogue stars torn from their host galaxies, and the lower panel captures the signature of the first galaxies formed in the Universe. Image credit: Ketron Mitchell-Wynne / University of California, Irvine.
Sep 9, 2015 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has generated the most accurate statistical description yet of early galaxies as they existed in the Universe about a half billion years after the Big Bang. In a paper published online in the journal Nature Communications, they describe the use of a novel statistical method to analyze data captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope during deep-sky surveys. These panels show different components of near-infrared...

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The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds and an interstellar filament. Image credit: ESA / Planck Collaboration.

Planck Captures Magellanic Clouds, Interstellar Filament 300 Light-Years Away

Sep 8, 2015 by News Staff

This image portrays the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds – two spectacular, naked-eye companion galaxies to our own Milky Way Galaxy; and a filament...

This image shows the spiral galaxy Messier 63, widely known as the Sunflower Galaxy. The image was taken with Hubble’s Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Messier 63: ‘Sunflower’ Blooms in New Hubble Image

Sep 7, 2015 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has produced this beautiful image of the famous galaxy Messier 63, also known as the Sunflower Galaxy. This image shows...

This image snapped by the Wide Field Imager on the 2.2-m MPG/ESO telescope reveals a detailed view of part of the Prawn Nebula, also known as Gum 56. It shows clumps of hot new-born stars nestled in among the clouds that make up the nebula. Image credit: ESO.

Astronomers Capture Cosmic ‘Prawn’

Sep 2, 2015 by News Staff

Using the 2.2-m MPG/ESO telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile, astronomers have captured an image of part of the gigantic nebula Gum 56. This...

Dust lanes seem to swirl around the core of the spiral galaxy Messier 96 in this new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / LEGUS Team / R. Gendler.

Hubble Zeroes in on Messier 96

Aug 31, 2015 by News Staff

This newly-released image from the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), aboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows a Milky Way-like galaxy Messier 96. Dust...

Herschel images of a small fraction of the galaxies analyzed in the new study. The images have a size of 5 x 5 arcsec2. The circle has a radius of 1.5 arcsec. Image credit: Stephen Eales et al.

Astronomers Find First Direct Evidence of Galaxy ‘Metamorphosis’

Aug 28, 2015 by News Staff

A multinational group of astronomers has shown that a large proportion of galaxies have undergone a major ‘metamorphosis’ since they were initially...

In this theoretical artist’s conception of our Milky Way Galaxy, green ‘bubbles’ mark areas where alien life has spread beyond its home system to create cosmic oases, a process called panspermia. Image credit: NASA / JPL / R. Hurt.

Astrophysicists: Milky Way Galaxy ‘Infected’ with Pockets of Alien Life

Aug 28, 2015 by News Staff

A fundamental question in astrobiology is: whether life can be transported between extrasolar planets, planetary systems? A team of U.S. astrophysicists...

This Hubble image shows the extraordinary galaxy Markarian 231. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA / Hubble Collaboration / A. Evans, University of Virginia, Charlottesville / NRAO / Stony Brook University.

Supermassive Binary Black Hole Found in Nearest Quasar Markarian 231

Aug 27, 2015 by News Staff

An international team of astrophysicists and astronomers, led by Dr Youjun Lu of the National Astronomical Observatories of China, has found a supermassive...

This Hubble image shows a bipolar planetary nebula named the Twin Jet Nebula, located about 5,560 light-years away in the constellation Ophiuchus. Bipolar planetary nebulae are formed when the central object is not a single star, but a binary system. Studies have shown that the nebula’s size increases with time, and measurements of this rate of increase suggest that the stellar outburst that formed the lobes occurred just 1,200 years ago. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Judy Schmidt.

Astronomers Capture Incredible Image of Twin Jet Nebula

Aug 26, 2015 by News Staff

Using the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 and the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph aboard the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers captured...

This SDO image shows a subset of extreme UV light that highlights the extremely hot solar material, which is typically colorized in red. Image credit: NASA / SDO.

NASA’s SDO Captures Image of Mid-Level Solar Flare

Aug 24, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captured this stunning ultraviolet image of a powerful solar flare – as seen in the bright spot in the...

This Hubble image shows the intermediate-age globular cluster NGC 1783. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Judy Schmidt, geckzilla.com.

Hubble Space Telescope Focuses on Far-Off Star Cluster

Aug 24, 2015 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has produced a beautiful image of a globular cluster known as NGC 1783. This Hubble image shows the intermediate-age...

X-ray view of the central region of our Milky Way Galaxy. This image was put together in a new study by compiling all observations of this region that were performed with ESA’s XMM-Newton, adding up to over one month of monitoring in total. The image combines data collected at energies from 0.5 to 2 keV (shown in red), 2 to 4.5 keV (shown in green) and 4.5 to 12 keV (shown in blue). It spans about 2.5 degrees across, equivalent to about 1,000 light-years. Image credit: ESA / XMM-Newton / G. Ponti et al.

XMM-Newton Snaps Stunning X-ray Portraits of Milky Way’s Central Region

Aug 22, 2015 by News Staff

New images from ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray Observatory reveal some of the most intense processes taking place at the hearth of our Milky Way Galaxy. X-ray...

This image shows an open star cluster known as IC 4651. Image credit: ESO.

Astronomers Capture Image of Open Star Cluster IC 4651

Aug 20, 2015 by News Staff

This incredible image of the open star cluster IC 4651 was captured using the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-m telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory,...

This artist’s concept of a young solar system shows gas giants forming first, while the gas nebula is present. Prof Martin Duncan and co-authors used computer simulations to nail down how Jupiter and Saturn evolved in our own Solar System. These calculations show that the cores of gas giants likely formed by gradually accumulating a population of ‘planetary pebbles’ - icy objects about a foot in diameter. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Researchers Shed New Light on How Gas Giants Formed in Early Solar System

Aug 20, 2015 by News Staff

In a paper published online today in Nature, an international team of scientists explains how the cores of gas giants formed through the accumulation of...

This image shows a collisional ring galaxy called the Kathryn’s Wheel. The image measures approximately 4 arcminutes across, and was taken by the Cerro-Tololo InterAmerican Observatory 4-m telescope in Chile. Image credit: Ivan Bojicic / Quentin A. Parker et al.

Kathryn’s Wheel: Astronomers Discover Nearest Collisional Ring Galaxy

Aug 17, 2015 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers announced yesterday the discovery of the closest collisional ring galaxy to our Milky Way. This image shows a collisional...

This Hubble image shows the nebula M1-67 around the Wolf-Rayet star WR 124. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Judy Schmidt, geckzilla.com.

Hubble Snaps Stunning Image of Wolf-Rayet Star

Aug 17, 2015 by News Staff

The Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has taken a beautiful image of a Wolf-Rayet star surrounded by a nebula of...

These Hubble images show elliptical galaxies with dark, wispy dust lanes, the signature of a recent galaxy merger. The dust is the only relic of a smaller galaxy that was consumed by the larger elliptical galaxy. The X in the images marks the location of supernova explosions that are associated with the galaxies. Each supernova may have been gravitationally kicked out of its host galaxy by a pair of central supermassive black holes. When two galaxies merge, so do their supermassive black holes. Prof Foley suggests the supernovae were stars that were once part of double-star systems. These systems wandered too close to the binary black holes, which ejected them from their galaxies. Eventually, the stars in each system moved close enough together to trigger a supernova blast. These outcast supernovae are located at various distances from their home galaxies. SN 2000ds (left) is at least 12,000 light-years from its galaxy, NGC 2768; SN 2005cz (right) is at least 7,000 light-years from its galaxy, NGC 4589. NGC 2768 resides 75 million light-years from Earth, and NGC 4589 is 108 million light-years away. Image credit: NASA / ESA / R. Foley, University of Illinois.

Astronomer Throws Light on Origins of Outcast Supernovae

Aug 16, 2015 by News Staff

Outcast supernovae that explode all alone in space present a scientific mystery. Prof Ryan Foley from the University of Illinois has developed a theory...

An artistic conception of the young Jovian planet 51 Eridani b. Image credit: Danielle Futselaar / Franck Marchis / SETI Institute.

51 Eridani b: Jupiter-Like Exoplanet Discovered 97 Light-Years Away

Aug 14, 2015 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Gemini Planet Imager have discovered a young Jupiter-like planet orbiting a nearby star known as 51 Eridani. An artistic conception...

RGG 118: Astronomers Find Smallest Known Supermassive Black Hole

Aug 12, 2015 by News Staff

A team of astronomers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the 6.5-m Clay Telescope in Chile has found the smallest supermassive black hole ever...

Kepler-453b (right) orbits a pair of stars. Image credit: Mark Garlick, markgarlick.com.

Kepler-453b: Astronomers Discover New Circumbinary Exoplanet

Aug 11, 2015 by News Staff

A team of astronomers from Israel, Europe, Korea and the United States has announced the discovery of a circumbinary gas giant in the habitable zone of...

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