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In shaping the Universe, gravity builds a vast cobweb-like structure of filaments tying galaxies and clusters of galaxies together along invisible bridges hundreds of millions of light-years long. This is known as the cosmic web. Image credit: Springel et al. / Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics.

Universe Could Rotate Once Every 500 Billion Years, Study Suggests

Apr 22, 2025 by News Staff

New research led by University of Hawai’i astronomers suggests our Universe may rotate — just extremely slowly. In shaping the Universe, gravity...

This Webb image shows Messier 83. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / A. Adamo, Stockholm University / FEAST JWST Team.

Webb Finds Evidence for Active Supermassive Black Hole in Messier 83

Apr 21, 2025 by News Staff

Highly ionized neon gas detected at the center of the spiral galaxy Messier 83 by the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) aboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb...

This Hubble image shows Messier 72, a globular cluster some 50,000 light-years away in the constellation of Aquarius. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / A. Sarajedini / G. Piotto / M. Libralato.

Hubble Takes Closer Look at Globular Cluster Messier 72

Apr 21, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

As part of Hubble’s 35th anniversary celebrations, astronomers have obtained a stunning new image of a rich collection of scattered stars called Messier...

An artist’s impression of the super-Earth exoplanet K2-18b. Image credit: A. Smith / N. Mandhusudhan.

Webb Detects Possible Biosignature Gases in Atmosphere of K2-18b

Apr 17, 2025 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have detected the chemical fingerprints of dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and/or dimethyl disulfide...

This Hubble image shows Messier 104, a galaxy located 28 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / K. Noll.

Hubble Space Telescope Revisits Messier 104

Apr 16, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

In anticipation of the upcoming 35th anniversary of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, the Hubble team has released a beautiful new image of the Sombrero...

This image of Zhúlóng, the most distant spiral galaxy discovered to date, shows its remarkably well-defined spiral arms, a central old bulge, and a large star-forming disk, resembling the structure of the Milky Way. Image credit: NASA / CSA / ESA / M. Xiao, University of Geneva / G. Brammer, Niels Bohr Institute / Dawn JWST Archive.

Webb Discovers Milky Way-Like Spiral Galaxy in Early Universe

Apr 16, 2025 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have discovered an ultra-massive grand-design spiral galaxy that existed just one billion...

Double-prism device with thin film in between shown as dark light absorbing plane -- mimicking a gravitational black hole. Image credit: Nina Vaidya, University of Southampton.

Newly-Developed Optical Device Mimics Black and White Gravitational Holes

Apr 16, 2025 by News Staff

In general relativity, a gravitational white hole is a hypothetical region of space that cannot be entered from outside. It is the reverse of a black hole...

An artist’s impression of a magnetar. Image credit: ESA.

Runaway Magnetar is Traversing Milky Way from Unknown Place of Origin, Astronomers Say

Apr 15, 2025 by NASA

SGR 0501+4516 is the likeliest candidate in our Milky Way Galaxy for a magnetar that was not born in a supernova explosion as initially predicted; the...

This Webb image shows the planetary nebula NGC 1514. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / Michael Ressler, JPL / Dave Jones, IAC.

Webb Captures Best Ever Image of Planetary Nebula NGC 1514

Apr 15, 2025 by News Staff

NGC 1514’s two central stars, which appear as one in the image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, formed this scene over thousands of...

This image of 2024 YR4 was captured with the Gemini South telescope in Chile, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, partly funded by NSF and operated by NOIRLab. Image credit: International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / M. Zamani.

Near-Earth Asteroid 2024 YR4 Likely Originated in Main Belt

Apr 14, 2025 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) on the Gemini South telescope have determined that the recently-discovered near-Earth asteroid...

This Hubble image shows Messier 77, a barred spiral galaxy some 62 million light-years away in the constellation of Cetus. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) instruments. It is based on data obtained through six filters. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / L.C. Ho / D. Thilker.

Hubble Space Telescope Snaps New Image of Messier 77

Apr 14, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA has released an incredibly beautiful image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope of the barred spiral galaxy Messier 77. This Hubble image shows Messier...

This image of Uranus’ aurorae was taken by Hubble on October 10, 2022. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / L. Lamy / L. Sromovsky.

Astronomers Measure Rotation Rate of Uranus with Unprecedented Precision

Apr 10, 2025 by News Staff

The rotation period of Uranus was estimated to be 17.24 hours in 1986 from radio auroral measurements made by NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft. Using the...

From a great distance, our Milky Way Galaxy would look like a thin disk of stars that orbits once every few hundred million years around its central region, where hundreds of billions of stars provide the gravitational ‘glue’ to hold it all together. But this pull of gravity is much weaker in the Galaxy’s far outer disk. There, the hydrogen atoms making up most of the Milky Way’s gas disk are no longer confined to a thin plane, instead they give the disk an S-like, or warped, appearance. Image credit: Xiaodian Chen.

Do Galaxy-Free Dark Matter Halos Exist in Universe?

Apr 8, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new study by University of California, San Diego computational astrophysicist Ethan Nadler shows that star formation can occur in halos down to 10 million...

This image shows NGC 4945, a spiral galaxy over 12 million light-years away in the constellation of Centaurus; NGC 4945’s supermassive black hole-driven wind is shown in red in the inset. Image credit: ESO / Marconcini et al.

NGC 4945’s Central Black Hole is Blowing Out Powerful Winds of Material, Astronomers Say

Apr 8, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the MUSE instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have detected supermassive black hole-driven winds in the barred spiral galaxy...

An artist’s impression of the Gliese 414 system. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

What If Astronomers Find Nothing in Future Exoplanet Habitability and Biosignature Surveys?

Apr 7, 2025 by News Staff

Using advanced statistical modeling, a team of researchers from ETH Zurich, SETI Institute, the Università di Roma ‘Tor Vergata’ and the University...

This Hubble image shows Kohoutek 4-55, a planetary nebula located 4,600 light-years away in the constellation of Cygnus. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / K. Noll.

Hubble Snaps Stunning Image of Little-Known Planetary Nebula

Apr 7, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Officially named Kohoutek 4-55, this little-known planetary nebula lies within our Milky Way Galaxy. This Hubble image shows Kohoutek 4-55, a planetary...

These Webb images show the near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / A. Rivkin, JHU/APL.

Webb Measures Size, Captures Images of Potentially Hazardous Asteroid 2024 YR4

Apr 3, 2025 by Natali Anderson

The destructive power of an impacting asteroid is primarily estimated by knowledge of its size. The near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4 reached a peak 2032 impact...

This composite image, which combines data from Webb’s Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam), Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) instruments, shows an Einstein ring around an elliptical galaxy in the galaxy cluster SMACSJ0028.2-7537. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / G. Mahler.

Very Rare ‘Einstein Ring’ Spotted by Webb

Apr 2, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Light from an extremely distant spiral galaxy was bent and magnified by the gravity of a member of the galaxy cluster SMACSJ0028.2-7537 into a ring-like...

The image columns show the change of Uranus for the four years that Hubble’s STIS instrument observed Uranus across a 20-year period. Over that span of time, astronomers watched the seasons of Uranus as the south polar region (left) darkened going into winter shadow while the north polar region (right) brightened as it began to come into a more direct view as northern summer approaches. The top row, in visible light, shows how the color of Uranus appears to the human eye as seen through even an amateur telescope. In the second row, the false-color image of the planet is assembled from visible and near-infrared light observations. The color and brightness correspond to the amounts of methane and aerosols. Both of these quantities could not be distinguished before STIS was first aimed at Uranus in 2002. Generally, green areas indicate less methane than blue areas, and red areas show no methane. The red areas are at the limb, where the stratosphere of Uranus is almost completely devoid of methane. The two bottom rows show the latitude structure of aerosols and methane inferred from 1,000 different wavelengths (colors) from visible to near infrared. In the third row, bright areas indicate cloudier conditions, while the dark areas represent clearer conditions. In the fourth row, bright areas indicate depleted methane, while dark areas show the full amount of methane. At middle and low latitudes, aerosols and methane depletion have their own latitudinal structure that mostly did not change much over the two decades of observation. However, in the polar regions, aerosols and methane depletion behave very differently. In the third row, the aerosols near the north pole display a dramatic increase, showing up as very dark during early northern spring, turning very bright in recent years. Aerosols also seem to disappear at the left limb as the solar radiation disappeared. This is evidence that solar radiation changes the aerosol haze in the atmosphere of Uranus. On the other hand, methane depletion seems to stay quite high in both polar regions throughout the observing period. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Erich Karkoschka, LPL.

Hubble Sheds New Light on Atmospheric Composition and Dynamics of Uranus

Apr 1, 2025 by News Staff

A 20-year Hubble study of Uranus provide valuable data for understanding the atmospheric dynamics of this distant ice giant, which can serve as a proxy...