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This is an optical image of the low-mass, second-generation star SDSS J0018-0939 (center), obtained by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Image credit: NAOJ / SDSS.

Astronomers Discover Signature of First-Generation Very-Massive Star

Aug 22, 2014 by News Staff

Using the High Dispersion Spectrograph mounted on the 8.2-m Subaru Telescope on Mauna Kea, astronomers led by Dr Wako Aoki of the National Astronomical...

This image shows two star formation regions in the southern Milky Way: the first of these, on the left, is dominated by the star cluster NGC 3603; the second object, on the right, is NGC 3576. Image credit: ESO / G. Beccari.

Astronomers Capture Spectacular NGC 3576, NGC 3603

Aug 20, 2014 by News Staff

A group of astronomers using the Wide Field Imager at ESO’s La Silla Observatory has captured an image of two intriguing and beautiful star formation...

This composite image shows the nearby galaxy Messier 82. The intermediate-mass black hole M82 X-1 is the brightest object in the inset. Image credit: full-field - X-ray: NASA / CXC / JHU / D. Strickland; optical: NASA / ESA / STScI / AURA/ Hubble Heritage Team; IR: NASA / JPL-Caltech /Univ. of AZ / C. Engelbracht; inset - NASA / CXC / Tsinghua University / H. Feng et al.

M82 X-1: Astronomers Zoom in on Rare Intermediate-Mass Black Hole in Messier 82

Aug 18, 2014 by News Staff

Astronomers led by Dr Dheeraj Pasham at the University of Maryland have determined the mass of a black hole known as M82 X-1, which is located in the nearby...

Maps of the measured DIB absorption in respect to the area they cover in our Milky Way Galaxy. Image credit: Janez Kos / Nick Risinger / RAVE team.

Astronomers Create Maps of Milky Way’s Interstellar Material

Aug 16, 2014 by News Staff

A group of astronomers from Europe, Australia and the United States led by Dr Janez Kos of the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia has produced pseudo-3D...

The 2.6-million-light-year-long stream of atomic hydrogen gas, shown in green, stretches from the large galaxy at the bottom left to the group of galaxies at the top; a third nearby galaxy to the right also has a shorter stream of gas attached to it; the three insets show expanded views of the different galaxies and the green circle indicates the Arecibo telescope beam. Image credit: Rhys Taylor / Arecibo Galaxy Environment Survey / the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Collaboration, www.sdss.org.

Astronomers Discover 2.6-Million-Light-Year-Long Stream of Hydrogen

Aug 8, 2014 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers using the William E. Gordon Telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico has discovered a 2.6-million-light-year-long...

This image shows the spiral galaxy NGC 1309; the X-shaped feature at the top of the image of the galaxy marks the location of the supernova SN 2012Z; the inset panel from 2013 shows the supernova; archival Hubble data from 2005 and 2006 show the progenitor system for the supernova. Image credit: NASA / ESA / C. McCully and S. Jha, Rutgers University / R. Foley, University of Illinois / Z. Levay, STScI / Hubble Heritage Team / A. Riess, JHU / STScI.

Hubble Finds Progenitor to Rare Type Iax Supernova SN 2012Z

Aug 7, 2014 by News Staff

Archival photographs from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have been used to uncover the progenitor to the supernova SN 2012Z – the binary star system...

Left: the image of Io taken in the near-infrared with adaptive optics at the Gemini North telescope on August 29, 2013. Image credit: Katherine de Kleer / UC Berkeley / Gemini Observatory / AURA. Right: NASA's Galileo spacecraft acquired this image of Io in July 1999. Image credit: NASA / JPL / University of Arizona.

Scientists Capture Three Massive Volcanic Eruptions on Io

Aug 5, 2014 by News Staff

An international team of scientists, using the W. M. Keck Observatory’s 10-meter Keck II telescope, the Gemini North telescope on Mauna Kea and the...

This image shows the galaxy cluster IRC 0218. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Kim-Vy Tran, Texas A&M University / Kenneth Wong, Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Hubble Discovers Most Distant Gravitational Lens Yet

Aug 1, 2014 by News Staff

A team of astronomers using the Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Wide Field Camera onboard NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has discovered the most distant...

This is an illustration of a hot Jupiter orbiting a Sun-like star.

Astronomers Discover Three Surprisingly Dry Jupiter-Like Exoplanets

Jul 25, 2014 by News Staff

A team of astronomers headed by Dr Nikku Madhusudhan of the Cambridge University’s Institute of Astronomy has found that the abundance of water vapor...

This artist's conception shows Kepler-421b. Image credit: David A. Aguilar / CfA.

Kepler-421b: Astronomers Discover Exoplanet with Longest Known Year

Jul 22, 2014 by News Staff

A year on the newly discovered Uranus-sized exoplanet Kepler-421b lasts for 704.2 days, making it the longest orbital period exoplanet yet found. Its parent...

This artist's impression shows the structure of our Milky Way Galaxy, including the location of the spiral arms and other components such as the bulge. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ESO / R. Hurt.

Scientists Discover Two Most Distant Stars Ever Detected in Milky Way Galaxy

Jul 18, 2014 by News Staff

A team of astronomers using the Red Channel spectrograph at the MMT Observatory on Mt. Hopkins in Arizona has discovered the most distant Milky Way stars...

This image shows the nearby spiral galaxy Messier 101 and the seven newly discovered dwarf galaxies. Image credit: Allison Merritt et al.

Dragonfly Telephoto Array Discovers Seven Dwarf Galaxies around Messier 101

Jul 11, 2014 by News Staff

Astronomers using a new telescope called the Dragonfly Telephoto Array have discovered seven new dwarf galaxies the field of a nearby spiral galaxy known...

This artist's impression shows dust forming in the environment around a supernova explosion. Image credit: ESO / M. Kornmesser.

Astronomers Zero in on Stardust around Supernova SN 2010jl

Jul 9, 2014 by News Staff

Scientists led by Dr Christa Gall from Aarhus University, Denmark, have discovered that supernovas – the cosmic factories of gas and dust – produce...

This image shows the nearby Seyfert galaxy IC 5063. Image credit: Sky-map.org.

Supermassive Black Hole in Seyfert Galaxy IC 5063 Surprises Astronomers

Jul 8, 2014 by News Staff

A group of astronomers headed by Prof Clive Tadhunter from the the University of Sheffield has discovered that the central supermassive black hole of the...

The upper image shows the location of six candidate exoplanets believed to orbit Gliese 581 as of 2010. Blue indicates candidate exoplanets in the habitable zone. The bottom image shows the location of the three exoplanets remaining in 2014. Image credit: NASA / Penn State University.

Astronomers: Two Goldilocks Exoplanets in Gliese 581 System Just Cosmic Illusion

Jul 5, 2014 by News Staff

Astronomers led by Dr Paul Robertson of the Pennsylvania State University say that signals that were suspected to be coming from two Earth-like exoplanets...

Astronomers Discover Cold Terrestrial Exoplanet in Binary Star System

Jul 4, 2014 by News Staff

Using gravitational microlensing, a team of astronomers led by Prof Andrew Gould from Ohio State University has detected a cold terrestrial exoplanet orbiting...

This image shows the star-forming region Gum 15. Image credit: ESO.

Astronomers Zoom in on Star-Forming Region Gum 15

Jul 2, 2014 by News Staff

A team of astronomers using the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-m telescope at the La Silla Observatory, Chile, has captured a new image of a glowing...

This combination of three wavelengths of light from NASA's SDO shows one of the multiple jets that led to a series of slow coronal puffs on January 17, 2013. The light has been colorized in red, green and blue. Image credit: Nathalia Alzate / SDO.

NASA’s Solar Observatories Capture Unusual Eruptions on Sun

Jun 30, 2014 by News Staff

A team of astronomers using NASA’s three Sun-gazing spacecraft – Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory...

Artistic representation of Gliese 832 c against a stellar nebula background. mage credit: PHL / UPR Arecibo / NASA Hubble / Stellarium.

Gliese 832c: Potentially Habitable Super-Earth Discovered 16 Light-Years Away

Jun 29, 2014 by News Staff

A team of astronomers led by Dr Robert Wittenmyer of the University of New South Wales has discovered a super-Earth orbiting near the inner edge of the...