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Terrestrial exoplanet and its moons. Image credit: Luciano Mendez / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Inner Solar System May Have Harbored Super-Earths 4.5 Billion Years Ago

Mar 24, 2015 by News Staff

A new study, published March 23 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that Jupiter’s inward-outward migration early in the...

NGC 5023 is seen edge-on in this new image from NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Image credit: ESA / Hubble / NASA.

Hubble Sees Edge-On Spiral Galaxy NGC 5023

Mar 23, 2015 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured a spectacular new image of the spiral galaxy NGC 5023. NGC 5023 is seen edge-on in this...

This image shows the remnant of CK Vulpeculae; the image was created from a combination of visible-light images from the Gemini telescope, blue, a submillimeter map showing the dust from the SMA, green, and finally a map of the molecular emission from APEX and the SMA, red. Image credit: ESO / T. Kamiński.

Ground-Based Telescopes Reveal Secrets of Enigmatic Nova CK Vulpeculae

Mar 23, 2015 by News Staff

According to an international group of astronomers led by Dr Tomasz Kamiński of ESO and the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany,...

This is a composite, false-color image of the supernova remnant Sagittarius A East. Image credit: R. M. Lau et al.

Supernova Dust Factory Found at Milky Way’s Galactic Center

Mar 20, 2015 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), the world’s largest airborne astronomical observatory, have...

This Hubble Space Telescope image shows the local dwarf galaxy NGC 5253; superimposed is the gas (fuzzy red to yellow) as seen by the Submillimeter Array; the bright white area is Cloud D. Image credit: J. L. Turner et al.

Astronomers Spot Mysterious Star-Forming Cluster in Nearby Galaxy NGC 5253

Mar 20, 2015 by News Staff

According to a group of astronomers led by Prof Jean Turner of the University of California, Los Angeles, more than a million infant stars are forming...

This false-color image shows Chiron (April 28, 1998). Image credit: Adrian Silva / Sergio Cellone, doi: 10.1016/S0032-0633(01)00052-6.

Astronomers Detect Possible Saturn-Like Rings around Chiron

Mar 17, 2015 by News Staff

Two groups of astronomers have independently detected a possible ring system around an outer Solar System body called Chiron. This false-color image shows...

This image shows the Eagle Nebula’s Pillars of Creation as seen in visible light, capturing the multi-colored glow of gas clouds, wispy tendrils of dark cosmic dust, and the rust-colored elephants’ trunks of the nebula’s famous pillars. The dust and gas in the pillars is seared by the intense radiation from young stars and eroded by strong winds from massive nearby stars. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Hubble Heritage Team.

Astronomers Create Hubble Source Catalog

Mar 16, 2015 by News Staff

A team of astronomers has created a new comprehensive catalog of astronomical objects observed with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. This image shows...

This image shows the compact dwarf galaxy SBS 1415+437. Image credit: ESA / Hubble / NASA / Alessandra Aloisi, STScI / Nick Rose.

Hubble Zeroes in on Compact Dwarf Galaxy SBS 1415+437

Mar 16, 2015 by News Staff

Scientists using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have looked at a dwarf galaxy called SBS 1415+437 with unprecedented clarity. This image shows the...

A rippled Milky Way Galaxy may be 50 percent larger than previously estimated. Image credit: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Our Milky Way Galaxy May Be Larger Than Thought

Mar 11, 2015 by News Staff

According to a new study led by Yan Xu of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, our Galaxy is at least 50 percent larger than is commonly estimated. A...

This image shows the newly-discovered dwarf galaxy Reticulum 2. Image credit: Sergey E. Koposov et al / Dark Energy Survey.

Reticulum 2: Gamma Rays from Dwarf Galaxy May Be Clue on Mysterious Dark Matter

Mar 11, 2015 by News Staff

A team of astronomers, led by Dr Alex Geringer-Sameth of Carnegie Mellon University, has detected gamma rays emanating from the recently discovered dwarf...

VLT Survey Telescope Focuses on Ara OB1 Stellar Association

Mar 11, 2015 by News Staff

Dusty star nurseries, clusters and emission nebulae can be seen in this composite image from ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope at Paranal Observatory, Chile. This...

This VLA radio image shows the galaxy cluster Abell 2256. Image credit: Owen et al. / NRAO / AUI / NSF.

Abell 2256: Radio Telescope Zooms in on Gigantic Collision of Galaxies

Mar 10, 2015 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) have captured the most detailed image yet of the merging cluster Abell 2256. This VLA radio...

This image shows the newly-discovered dwarf galaxy Eridanus 2. Image credit: Sergey E. Koposov et al / Dark Energy Survey.

Astronomers Discover Nine New Satellites of Milky Way Galaxy

Mar 10, 2015 by News Staff

Using the data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES), astronomers have found nine new ultra-faint Milky Way satellites. Based on the morphological properties,...

This image shows the dwarf irregular galaxy UCG 8201. Image credit: ESA / Hubble / NASA.

Hubble Space Telescope Captures Dwarf Irregular Galaxy UGC 8201

Mar 9, 2015 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have captured a striking new image of the M81 group post-starburst galaxy UGC 8201. This image shows...

This artist’s conception shows the extrasolar planet Gliese 581d. Image credit: Tyrogthekreeper / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Potentially Habitable Super-Earth Gliese 581d Probably Does Exist, Scientists Say

Mar 9, 2015 by News Staff

Astronomers Dr Guillem Anglada-Escudé from the Queen Mary University of London and Dr Mikko Tuomi from the University of Hertfordshire have dismissed...

An artist impression of the mass-transfer phase followed by a double-detonation supernova that leads to the ejection of US 708. While this illustration shows the supernova, bottom center, and the ejected star, left, at the same time, in reality the supernova would have been faded away long before the star reached that position. Image credit: ESA / Hubble / NASA / S. Geier.

US 708: Hypervelocity Star Ejected by Supernova Breaks Galactic Speed Record

Mar 6, 2015 by News Staff

A multinational team of astronomers led by Dr Stephan Geier from the European Southern Observatory in Garching, Germany, has determined that a hypervelocity...

This image shows four different images of SN Refsdal whose light has been distorted and magnified by the massive galaxy cluster MACS J1149+2223 in front of it. The huge mass of the cluster and one of the galaxies within it is bending the light from a supernova behind them and creating four separate images of the supernova. The light has been magnified and distorted due to gravitational lensing and as a result the images are arranged around the elliptical galaxy in a formation known as an Einstein cross. Image credit: NASA / ESA / S. Rodney, JHU / FrontierSN team / T. Treu, UCLA / P. Kelly, UC Berkeley / GLASS team / J. Lotz, STScI / Frontier Fields team / M. Postman, STScI / CLASH team / Z. Levay, STScI.

SN Refsdal: Hubble Spots Four Magnified Images of Same Supernova

Mar 6, 2015 by News Staff

Due to the gravitational lensing technique, a team of astronomers led by Dr Patrick Kelly from the University of California, Berkeley, has observed four...

The exoplanet 30 Ari Bb orbits its primary star, yellow, in about a year’s time; the star, 30 Ari B, has a companion - the small red dwarf shown at upper left; this pair of stars is itself locked in a long-distance orbit with another pair of stars, upper right, known as 30 Ari A. Image credit: Karen Teramura / UH IfA.

30 Ari Bb: Super-Jupiter Exoplanet Orbiting in Quadruple Star System

Mar 5, 2015 by News Staff

According to a team of astronomers headed by Dr Lewis Roberts from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, an extrasolar gas giant called 30 Arietis...

The star cluster Camargo 438. Image credit: D. Camargo / NASA / WISE.

Astronomers Discover Two Very Distant Star Clusters

Mar 3, 2015 by News Staff

Brazilian astronomers using data from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer have discovered two clusters of stars forming at the very edge of our...