Astronomy News

Tricarbon Molecule Detected in Atmosphere of Titan

This view of Titan is among the last images NASA’s Cassini spacecraft sent to Earth before it plunged into the giant planet’s atmosphere. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.
Mar 18, 2024 by Natali Anderson

The tricarbon molecule (C3) is likely produced in the upper atmosphere of Titan by the reaction of abundant acetylene with atomic carbon. This view of Titan is among the last images NASA’s Cassini spacecraft sent to Earth before it plunged into the giant planet’s atmosphere. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute. Among our Solar System’s more than 150 known moons, Saturn’s largest moon Titan is the only one with a substantial...

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Minor planets with activity discoveries resulting from the Active Asteroids project: (a-f) active asteroids and main-belt comet candidates; (g) an active Centaur; (h-l) active active quasi-Hilda asteroids; (m-t) Jupiter-family comets. Image credit: Chandler et al., 10.3847/1538-3881/ad1de2.

Citizen Science Project Discovers 15 New Active Asteroids

Mar 18, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Active asteroids behave dynamically like asteroids but display comet-like comae. These objects are poorly understood, with fewer than 60 identified to...

This Hubble image shows UGC 5829, an irregular galaxy some 30 million light-years away in the constellation of Leo Minor. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / R. Tully / M. Messa.

Hubble Space Telescope Captures Stunning Shot of Spider Galaxy

Mar 18, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new photo from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the nearby irregular galaxy UGC 5829, which is also known as the Spider Galaxy. This Hubble...

Jupiter is revisited by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in these images, taken on January 5-6, 2024, capturing both sides of the giant planet. Image credit: NASA / ESA / STScI / Amy Simon, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Hubble Space Telescope Captures Beautiful New Images of Jupiter

Mar 14, 2024 by News Staff

The many large storms and small white clouds seen in the new Hubble images, taken on January 5 and 6, 2024, are evidence for a lot of activity going on...

This image, taken by Webb’s MIRI instrument, shows a region near the IRAS 23385+6053 protostar. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / W.R.M. Rocha, LEI.

Webb Detects Complex Organic Molecules in Interstellar Ices toward Two Protostars

Mar 14, 2024 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) on the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have detected a variety of molecules ranging from relatively...

This image of NGC 5468, a galaxy located some 142 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo, combines data from Hubble and s Webb. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / A. Riess, JHU & STScI.

Webb Measurements Shed New Light on ‘Hubble Tension’ Mystery

Mar 12, 2024 by News Staff

When you are trying to solve one of the biggest conundrums in cosmology, you should triple check your homework. The puzzle, called the Hubble Tension,...

This DECam image shows the Vela supernova remnant, a remnant of supernova explosion located 800 light-years away in the southern constellation of Vela. Image credit: CTIO / NOIRLab / DOE / NSF / AURA / T.A. Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage & NSF’s NOIRLab / M. Zamani & D. de Martin, NSF’s NOIRLab.

Dark Energy Camera Captures Gigapixel Image of Vela Supernova Remnant

Mar 12, 2024 by News Staff

Astronomers using the powerful Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Víctor M. Blanco 4-m telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, a Program...

This image from Webb’s NIRCam instrument of star-forming region NGC 604 shows how stellar winds from bright, hot young stars carve out cavities in surrounding gas and dust. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI.

Webb Captures Spectacular Images of NGC 604

Mar 11, 2024 by News Staff

NGC 604 is similar to familiar starbirth regions in our Milky Way Galaxy, such as the Orion Nebula, but it is much larger in extent and contains many more...

This Hubble image shows LEDA 42160, a dwarf galaxy located 53.5 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / M. Sun.

Hubble Space Telescope Images Magellanic Spiral Galaxy

Mar 11, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA has released a stunning new image snapped by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of the little-known dwarf galaxy LEDA 42160. This Hubble image shows...

This illustration shows the white dwarf ZTF J190132.9+145808.7 and the Moon. Image credit: Giuseppe Parisi.

Floating Crystals Halt Cooling of Some High-Mass White Dwarfs, Astronomers Say

Mar 6, 2024 by News Staff

Astronomers have proposed a new theory that explains why a puzzling population of white dwarf stars stopped cooling for at least eight billion years. This...

Planet-forming disks around young stars and their location within the gas-rich cloud of Taurus, roughly 600 light-years from Earth. In total, the scientists observed 43 stars in the Taurus region, all of which are pictured here (though planet-forming disks were only detected in 39 of these targets). Image credit: ESO / Garufi et al. / IRAS.

VLT Finds Protoplanetary Disks around 86 Young Stars

Mar 5, 2024 by News Staff

New observations of 86 planet-forming disks provide astronomers with a wealth of data and unique insights into how planets arise in different regions of...

This two-part graphic shows evidence of a gaseous clump of helium in the halo surrounding galaxy GN-z11. In the top portion, at the far right, a small box identifies GN-z11 in a field of galaxies. The middle box shows a zoomed-in image of the galaxy. The box at the far left displays a map of the helium gas in the halo of GN-z11, including a clump that does not appear in the infrared colors shown in the middle panel. In the lower half of the graphic, a spectrum shows the distinct ‘fingerprint’ of helium in the halo. The full spectrum shows no evidence of other elements and so suggests that the helium clump must be fairly pristine, made of hydrogen and helium gas left over from the big bang, without much contamination from heavier elements produced by stars. Theory and simulations in the vicinity of particularly massive galaxies from these epochs predict that there should be pockets of pristine gas surviving in the halo, and these may collapse and form Population III star clusters. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Ralf Crawford, STScI.

Webb Detects Pristine Helium Clump in GN-z11’s Halo

Mar 5, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

GN-z11 is an exceptionally luminous galaxy that existed when our Universe was only 420 million years old, making it one of the earliest and most distant...

This Hubble image shows NGC 4423, a spiral galaxy some 55 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / M. Sun.

Hubble Space Telescope Spies Small Spiral Galaxy Edge-on

Mar 4, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA has released a beautiful photo taken by the Hubble Space Telescope of the spiral galaxy NGC 4423. This Hubble image shows NGC 4423, a spiral galaxy...

An artist’s impression of a supermassive black hole binary in the elliptical galaxy B2 0402+379. Image credit: NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. daSilva / M. Zamani.

Astronomers Measure Heaviest Pair of Supermassive Black Holes Ever Found

Mar 1, 2024 by News Staff

Astronomers using archival data from the Gemini North telescope have measured a binary supermassive black hole located within the elliptical galaxy B2...

Berné et al. observed the far-ultraviolet-irradiated protoplanetary disk d203-506 in the Orion Nebula. Image credit: Berné et al., doi: 10.1126/science.adh2861.

UV Radiation from Massive Stars Shapes Nearby Planetary Systems

Feb 29, 2024 by News Staff

For decades, astronomers have known that the powerful light emitted by massive stars can disrupt the swirling planetary disk of dust and gas around young...

Astronomers estimate 50,000 sources of near-infrared light are represented in this Webb image of the galaxy cluster Abell 2744. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / I. Labbe, Swinburne University of Technology / R. Bezanson, University of Pittsburgh / A. Pagan, STScI.

Photons from Dwarf Galaxies Reionized Early Universe, New Research Suggests

Feb 29, 2024 by News Staff

The reionization of the Universe occurred some 500 to 900 million years after the Big Bang. It represents the transformation of neutral hydrogen into ionized...

This ALMA image shows the water vapor (shades of blue) in the protoplanetary disk around HL Tauri; near the center of the disk, where the young star lives, the environment is hotter and the gas brighter; the red-hued rings are previous ALMA observations showing the distribution of dust around the star. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / Facchini et al.

ALMA Detects Water Vapor in Protoplanetary Disk around Young Star

Feb 29, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

The water molecule is a key ingredient in the formation of planetary systems. Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)...

The asteroid moonlet Dimorphos as seen by NASA’s DART spacecraft 11 seconds before impact. DART’s on board DRACO imager captured this image from a distance of 68 km (42 miles). This image was the last to contain all of Dimorphos in the field of view. Image credit: NASA / Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.

Asteroid Moonlet Dimorphos May Have Been Reshaped Following Impact from NASA’s DART Mission

Feb 28, 2024 by News Staff

On September 26, 2022, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission successfully impacted Dimorphos, the natural satellite of the binary near-Earth...

This Webb image shows NGC 1559, a barred spiral galaxy some 32 million light-years away in the constellation of Reticulum. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / A. Leroy / J. Lee / PHANGS Team.

Webb Snaps Breathtaking New Image of NGC 1559

Feb 28, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has captured a new photo of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1559. This Webb image shows NGC 1559, a barred spiral...

Composite-color image of A2744-QSO1. Image credit: Furtak et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07184-8.

Webb Finds Surprisingly Massive Black Hole in Early Universe

Feb 27, 2024 by News Staff

Using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have observed an extremely red, quasar-like object — named A2744-QSO1 — behind...

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