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This is an artist's impression of an exoplanet. Image credit: Ron Miller.

Billions of Earth-Like Exoplanets Exist in Our Milky Way Galaxy, Say Scientists

Feb 6, 2015 by News Staff

A group of researchers from Australia and Denmark led by Dr Charley Lineweaver of the Australian National University has calculated that there are hundreds...

Zoom on the CMB polarization, filtered to show mostly the signal detected on scales around 5 degrees on the sky. Image credit: ESA / Planck Collaboration.

Universe’s First Stars Appeared 100 Million Years Later than Thought

Feb 6, 2015 by News Staff

Thanks to new data from European Space Agency’s Planck space telescope, researchers have found that the reionization – one of the most important...

The Hubble image on the left (unlabeled at top left, labeled at bottom left) shows the beginning of the event, which took place on January 24, 2015. From left to right the moons Callisto and Io are above Jupiter's cloud tops. The shadows from Europa (not seen in the image), Callisto, and Io are strung out from left to right. Near the end of the event, approximately 42 minutes later (right-side image), Europa has entered the frame at lower left. Slower-moving Callisto is above and to the right of Europa. Fastest-moving Io is approaching the eastern limb of the planet; its shadow is no longer visible on Jupiter. Europa's shadow is toward the left side of the image, and Callisto's shadow to the right. Missing from the sequence is the moon Ganymede, which was outside Hubble's field of view and too far from Jupiter in angular separation to be considered part of the conjunction. The moons in these photos have distinctive colors. The ancient, cratered surface of Callisto is brownish; the smooth icy surface of Europa is yellow-white; and the volcanic, sulfur-dioxide surface of Io is orange. The apparent fuzziness of some of the shadows depends on the moons' distances from Jupiter. The farther away a moon is from the planet, the softer the shadow, because the shadow is more spread out across the disk. The images were taken with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 in visible light. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA.

Hubble Sees Triple Transit of Galilean Moons

Feb 6, 2015 by News Staff

The Wide Field Camera 3 on NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has captured a rare look at three of Galilean moons – Io, Callisto, and Europa –...

This image shows the famous Trifid Nebula to the right of center; it appears as faint and ghostly at these infrared wavelengths when compared to the familiar view at visible wavelengths; this transparency has brought its own benefits - many previously hidden background objects can now be seen clearly; among these are two newly discovered Cepheid variable stars, the first ever spotted on the far side of our Milky Way Galaxy near its central plane. Image credit: ESO / VVV consortium / D. Minniti.

Astronomers Zoom in on Trifid Nebula, Discover Two Distant Cepheids

Feb 4, 2015 by News Staff

A team of astronomers led by Dr István Dékány from Millennium Institute of Astrophysics and the Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile, has...

This image shows the peculiar galaxy Arp 230. Image credit: ESA / Hubble / NASA.

Hubble Space Telescope Captures Galaxy Arp 230

Feb 4, 2015 by News Staff

A new image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope shows Arp 230, a peculiar galaxy located at a distance of about 80 million light-years. This image shows...

This image combines X-ray data collected by XMM-Newton telescope (blue) with optical observations from Hubble (green and red). Image credit: ESA / XMM-Newton / Y.-H. Chu / R.A. Gruendl / M.A. Guerrero / N. Ruiz / NASA / Hubble team / A. Hajian / B. Balick.

Astronomers Release New Image of Planetary Nebula NGC 3242 (Jupiter’s Ghost)

Feb 3, 2015 by News Staff

Using two orbiting space telescopes, astronomers have captured a striking new image of the nebula NGC 3242. This image combines X-ray data collected by...

3D reconstruction of SNR Cassiopeia A provides the first detailed look at the distribution of stellar debris following a supernova explosion; the blue-to-red colors correspond to the varying speed of the emitting gas along our line of sight; the background is a Hubble composite image of the remnant. Image credit: Dan Milisavljevic / Robert Fesen / NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team.

Cassiopeia A: Astronomers Create 3D Map of Supernova Remnant’s Interior

Jan 30, 2015 by News Staff

Astronomers Dr Dan Milisavljevic of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Dr Robert Fesen of Dartmouth College have generated a three-dimensional...

This image, taken with the Wide Field Camera 3 and the Advanced Camera for Surveys on Hubble, reveals the correlation of the gas clouds and stars in NGC 7714. The picture not only reveals the intricate structure of the galaxy, but also shows many other objects that are much further away. Image credit: NASA / ESA / A. Gal-Yam, Weizmann Institute of Science.

NASA’s Hubble Sees Starburst Galaxy NGC 7714

Jan 30, 2015 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have obtained a remarkable new view of the galaxy NGC 7714. This image, taken with the Wide Field Camera...

The center of the galaxy Messier 82 at very long radio wavelengths; the bright points are most likely supernova remnants; the image is about 3,300 light years across. Image credit: E. Varenius / Onsala Space Observatory / LOFAR Collaboration.

LOFAR Radio Telescope Observes Messier 82 (Cigar Galaxy)

Jan 29, 2015 by News Staff

The Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) radio telescope has been used to observe the glowing center of the starburst galaxy Messier 82 at very long radio wavelengths. The...

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

Extrasolar Gas Giants Can Become Potentially Habitable Super-Earths, Say Scientists

Jan 29, 2015 by News Staff

Two phenomena known to inhibit the potential habitability of planets – tidal forces and vigorous stellar activity – could combine to transform...

This image shows the cometary globule CG4; although it looks huge and bright in this image it is actually a faint nebula and not easy to observe; the exact nature of CG4 remains a mystery. Image credit: ESO.

God’s Hand: Astronomers Capture Cometary Globule CG4

Jan 28, 2015 by News Staff

A stunning new image of the cometary globule CG4 has been obtained by a group of astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope. This image shows the cometary...

This is an artistic impression of the Kepler-444 planetary system. Image credit: Tiago Campante / Peter Devine.

Kepler-444: Five Exoplanets Found Orbiting 11-Billion-Year-Old Star

Jan 27, 2015 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers headed by Dr Tiago Campante of the University of Birmingham’s School of Physics and Astronomy, UK, has discovered...

The rings of J1407b are shown eclipsing the young Sun-like star J1407. Image credit: Ron Miller.

Super-Saturn J1407b Hosts Massive Ring System, Astronomers Say

Jan 27, 2015 by News Staff

Dr Matthew Kenworthy of Leiden Observatory and Prof Eric Mamajek of the University of Rochester have discovered a so-called super-Saturn exoplanet with...

This image shows the edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 4217. Image credit: ESA / Hubble / NASA / R. Schoofs.

Astronomers Snap Image of Edge-on Spiral Galaxy NGC 4217

Jan 26, 2015 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have obtained a remarkable new view of the spiral galaxy NGC 4217. This image shows the edge-on spiral...

This artist’s concept shows a changing look quasar. Image credit: Michael Helfenbein / Yale University.

Astronomers Discover First ‘Changing Look’ Quasar

Jan 23, 2015 by News Staff

A team of scientists led by Dr Stephanie LaMassa of Yale Center for Astronomy & Astrophysics has identified the first changing look quasar, a gleaming...

Astronomers have reported near-infrared interferometric measurements of the angular size of Nova Delphini 2013, starting one day after the explosion and continuing with extensive time coverage during the first 43 days. The image shows Tycho's supernova remnant. Image credit: X-ray - NASA / CXC / SAO; infrared - NASA / JPL-Caltech; optical - MPIA / Calar Alto / O.Krause et al.

Interstellar Plutonium-244 in Ocean Floor Dust Could Alter Current Understanding of Supernovae

Jan 21, 2015 by News Staff

Researchers plumbing the depths of the ocean have made a finding that could change the way we understand massive stellar explosions called supernovae. The...

This image shows the region around R Sculptoris. Image credit: ESA / Hubble / NASA.

Hubble Focuses on Red Giant Star R Sculptoris

Jan 21, 2015 by News Staff

The region around a red giant star called R Sculptoris has been captured in this new image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. This image shows the region...

NGC 6861. Image credit: ESA / Hubble / NASA / J. Barrington.

Hubble Space Telescope Captures Lenticular Galaxy NGC 6861

Jan 20, 2015 by News Staff

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has captured a new view of the lenticular galaxy NGC 6861. NGC 6861. Image credit: ESA / Hubble / NASA / J. Barrington. NGC...

Artist conception of a magnetar – one of the proposed sources for fast radio bursts. Image credit: NASA.

FRB 140514: Astronomers Observe First ‘Live’ Fast Radio Burst

Jan 20, 2015 by News Staff

A multinational group of astronomers using the 64-m Parkes Radio Telescope in eastern Australia has observed a fast radio burst happening live. Artist...