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This artist’s impression shows Proxima b orbiting Proxima Centauri, which at only 4.23 light-years is the closest star to our Solar System. The double star Alpha Centauri AB also appears in the image between the exoplanet and Proxima itself. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Proxima b May Harbor Explosive Cryovolcanoes and Habitable Subsurface Ocean

Dec 15, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers from NASA and the University of Washington have estimated total internal heating rates and depths to possible subsurface oceans for 17 planets...

An artist’s impression of a massive binary system. Image credit: ESO / M. Kornmesser / S.E. de Mink.

Astronomers Find Population of Stripped Helium Stars in Magellanic Clouds

Dec 14, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Removing the hydrogen-rich layers from a main sequence star exposes the helium-rich core. Such stripped helium stars are known at high and low masses,...

This image from Webb’s NIRCam instrument shows the central portion of the star cluster IC 348. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / K. Luhman, Penn State University / C. Alves de Oliveira, ESA.

Webb Finds Small Free-Floating Brown Dwarf in Star-Forming Cluster IC 348

Dec 13, 2023 by Natali Anderson

The newly-discovered brown dwarf has an estimated mass of 3-4 Jupiter masses, making it a strong contender for the least massive free-floating brown dwarf...

The merger of two neutron stars is among the leading candidate sites for synthesizing the heavier elements on the periodic table through the r-process. Image credit: Matthew Mumpower, Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Ancient Stars were Capable of Producing Elements with Atomic Masses Greater than 260, Scientists Say

Dec 11, 2023 by News Staff

The rapid neutron capture process, or the so-called r-process, occurs in neutron-rich environments such as neutron star mergers or certain types of supernovae....

This high-definition image from Webb’s NIRCam instrument unveils intricate details of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A; it shows the expanding shell of material slamming into the gas shed by the star before it exploded. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / D. Milisavljevic, Purdue University / T. Temim, Princeton University / I. De Looze, University of Gent.

Webb Captures Stunning New Image of Cassiopeia A

Dec 11, 2023 by News Staff

Objects in space reveal different aspects of their composition and behavior at different wavelengths of light. A supernova remnant called Cassiopeia A...

This Hubble image shows Arp-Madore 2105-332, a pair of interacting emission-line galaxies some 200 million light-years away in the constellation of Microscopium. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / J. Dalcanton / L. Shatz.

Hubble Spies Interacting Galaxy System in Microscopium

Dec 11, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The Hubble team has released a beautiful new image of Arp-Madore 2105-332, a pair of interacting galaxies in the minor southern constellation of Microscopium. This...

This infrared image from Hubble shows Milky Way’s nuclear star cluster, the densest and most massive star cluster in our Galaxy. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA / T. Do & A. Ghez, UCLA / V. Bajaj, STScI.

Astronomers Find Three Young Stars in Milky Way’s Nuclear Star Cluster

Dec 8, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The oldest of these stars is 1.5 billion years old while the youngest is only 100 million years old, according to a paper published in the Astrophysical...

The full-field star-subtracted image of G0.253+0.016. Image credit: Ginsburg et al., doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/acfc34.

Webb Observes Mysterious Dark Molecular Cloud in Milky Way’s Central Region

Dec 4, 2023 by News Staff

G0.253+0.016, nicknamed ‘the Brick’ due to its opacity, is among the best-studied infrared dark clouds in our Milky Way Galaxy. It is well-known for...

This composite image shows Omega Centauri, a globular cluster some 17,710 light-years away in the constellation of Centaurus; in the image, the Chandra data are shown along an optical view from Hubble and infrared view from Spitzer. Image credit: NASA / CXC / San Francisco State University / Cool et al. / ESA / STScI / JPL / Caltech / SAO / N. Wolk.

Astronomers Find Group of Spider Pulsars in Omega Centauri

Dec 4, 2023 by News Staff

Spider pulsars are a type of millisecond pulsar that strips their companion stars of their atmospheres through energetic winds. This composite image shows...

This image, taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope on August 30, 2006, shows the dwarf planet Eris (center) and its moon Dysnomia. Image credit: NASA / ESA / M. Brown, California Institute of Technology.

New Research Sheds Light on Internal Structure of Dwarf Planet Eris

Dec 4, 2023 by Natali Anderson

The trans-Neptunian dwarf planet Eris is tidally locked to its small moon Dysnomia. Recently obtained bounds on the mass of Dysnomia demonstrate that Eris...

This Hubble image shows NGC 2210, a globular cluster located 163,000 light-years away in the constellation of Dorado. Also known as ESO 57-71 or LW 423, the cluster was first discovered on January 31, 1835 by the English astronomer John Herschel. The color image is made up of observations from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and in the ultraviolet, near-infrared, and optical parts of the spectrum. It is based on data obtained through three filters. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / A. Sarajedini / F. Niederhofer.

Hubble Observes Densely Packed Globular Cluster NGC 2210

Dec 4, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope provides a detailed look at NGC 2210, a globular cluster situated in the Large Magellanic Cloud. This...

An artist’s impression of the massive star-forming region, with the planet-forming disk XUE 1 in the foreground. Image credit: Maria Cristina Fortuna, www.mariacristinafortuna.com.

Webb Detects Various Molecules in Extremely Irradiated Protoplanetary Disk

Dec 1, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have detected abundant water, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen cyanide and acetylene...

An artist’s impression of the giant exoplanet Kepler-1704b. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Neptune-Mass Exoplanet around Ultracool Dwarf Star Challenges Current Theories of Planet Formation

Nov 30, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Current theories predict that low-mass stars should rarely host planets with masses exceeding that of Neptune (17 Earth masses). An artist’s impression...

The six planets in the HD 110067 system are all smaller than Neptune and revolve around their parent star in a very precise waltz: when the closest planet to the star makes three full revolutions around it, the second one makes exactly two during the same time; this is called a 3:2 resonance; the six planets form a resonant chain in pairs of 3:2, 3:2, 3:2, 4:3, and 4:3, resulting in the closest planet completing six orbits while the outer-most planet does one. Image credit: ESA / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

Astronomers Discover Resonant System of Six Sub-Neptune Exoplanets around HD 110067

Nov 30, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The bright nearby star HD 110067 hosts six transiting sub-Neptunes that follow a chain of resonant orbits, according to new research led by University...

Left: this image from the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on ESO’s Very Large Telescope shows the parent cloud LHA 120-N 180B in which the HH 1177 system was first observed. Center: this image shows the jets that accompany HH 1177; the top part of the jet is aimed slightly towards us and thus blueshifted; the bottom one is receding from us and thus redshifted. Right: this image from ALMA shows the rotating disk around the star, similarly with sides moving towards and away from us. Image credit: ESO / ALMA / NAOJ / NRAO / McLeod et al.

ALMA Spots Circumstellar Disk around Young Star in Large Magellanic Cloud

Nov 29, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have detected a rotating gaseous structure around an extragalactic massive young...

Flaring, active regions of the Sun are highlighted in this image combining observations from several telescopes. High-energy X-rays from NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) are shown in blue; low-energy X-rays from Japan’s Hinode spacecraft are green; and extreme ultraviolet light from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is yellow and red. All three telescopes captured their solar images around the same time on April 29, 2015. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / GSFC / JAXA.

Solar Activity Likely to Peak in 2024, Astronomers Say

Nov 29, 2023 by News Staff

Sunspots have been observed for over four centuries and the magnetic nature of sunspot cycles has been known for about a century. However, some of its...

An artist’s impression of the five-planet system HD 108236. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Even in ‘Pristine’ Planetary Systems, Planets Exhibit Bit of Tilt

Nov 28, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers have long puzzled over why all of the planets in our Solar System have slightly slanted orbits around the Sun. But Yale University planetary...

Mothra is best described as a binary system with two supergiant stars, a hot one with temperature T ≈ 14,000 K, and a cooler one with T ≈ 5,000 K. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / Jose M. Diego, IFCA / Jordan C.J. D’Silva, UWA / Anton M. Koekemoer, STScI / Jake Summers, ASU / Rogier Windhorst, ASU / Haojing Yan, University of Missouri.

Mothra: Astronomers Spot Monster Binary Star in Distant Universe

Nov 28, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Mothra is a system of two supergiant stars in one of the extremely magnified galaxies behind the lensing galaxy cluster MACS J0416.1-2403. Mothra is best...

This Webb image shows a Herbig-Haro object called HH 797. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / T. Ray, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.

Webb Reveals Herbig-Haro Object in Unprecedented Detail

Nov 28, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has captured a very detailed image of the Herbig-Haro object 797 (HH 797), which is located in the northern...