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NSF’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array is collecting data that astronomers will analyze for the type of emissions that only artificial transmitters make. Image credit: VLA / SETI.

VLA to Search for Radio Signals from Alien Civilizations

May 4, 2023 by News Staff

NSF’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), a powerful radio telescope situated about 80.5 km (50 miles) west of Socorro, New Mexico, is joining the...

This composite image shows the elliptical galaxy Centaurus A: blue color shows X-ray light captured by Chandra, orange represents X-rays detected by IXPE, and optical light seen by ESO is colored white and gray. Image credit: NASA / MSFC / IXPE / Ehlert et al. / CXC / SAO / ESO / WFI / J.Schmidt.

IXPE Observes Jet from Centaurus A’s Supermassive Black Hole

May 4, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Centaurus A is located 13 million light-years away in the constellation of Centaurus, and represents the fifth brightest galaxy in the sky. This composite...

This artist’s impression shows a distant gas cloud that contains different chemical elements, illustrated here with schematic representations of various atoms. Image credit: L. Calçada / M. Kornmesser / ESO.

VLT Detects Chemical Signatures of Universe’s First Stars in Distant Gas Clouds

May 4, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have detected three distant gas clouds whose chemical composition matches what they expect from the...

This image, taken with the FORS2 instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope, shows the emission nebula Gum 10. Image credit: ESO.

VLT Focuses on Emission Nebula Gum 10

May 3, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the FORS2 instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope have captured a striking new image of the large emission nebula Gum 10. This image,...

Zhang et al used artificial intelligence to search through radio signals recorded from FRB 121102. Image credit: Breakthrough Listen Initiative.

Study: Earth’s Mobile Tower Leakage Could Not Be Detected by Nearby Earth-Like Civilizations

May 3, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Mobile communication towers represent a relatively new but growing contributor to the total radio-leakage associated with planet Earth. In new research,...

An artist’s impression of the early Earth. Image credit: NASA.

Energetic Particles from Young Sun May Have Kickstarted Life on Early Earth

May 2, 2023 by News Staff

Life most likely started during the Hadean Eon (4.5 to 4 billion years ago). However, the environmental conditions which contributed to the complexity...

This graphic shows the transmission spectrum obtained by Webb of the warm super-Earth exoplanet Gliese 486b. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / J. Olmsted, STScI / S. Moran, University of Arizona / K. Stevenson, JHUAPL / R. MacDonald, University of Michigan / J. Lustig-Yaeger, JHUAPL.

Webb Captures Transmission Spectrum of Gliese 486b

May 2, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using spectral data from Webb’s Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec), astronomers determined that the warm super-Earth Gliese 486b either has a water-rich...

This Hubble image shows NGC 3489, a lenticular galaxy located 30 million light-years away in the constellation of Leo. Image credit: NASA / ESA / P. Erwin, Max-Planck-Institut fur extraterrestrische Physik / L. Ho, Peking University / S. Kaviraj, University of Hertfordshire / Gladys Kober, NASA & Catholic University of America.

Hubble Space Telescope Spots Beautiful Lenticular Galaxy

May 2, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASAESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured a detailed image of a lenticular galaxy called NGC 3489. This Hubble image shows NGC...

This Hubble image shows JO175, a jellyfish galaxy located 650 million light-years away in the constellation of Telescopium. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / M. Gullieuszik / GASP Team.

Hubble Zooms in on Jellyfish Galaxy JO175

May 1, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has produced an outstanding image of the jellyfish galaxy JO175. This Hubble image shows JO175, a jellyfish galaxy...

An artist’s impression of the superflare from the main member of the V1355 Orionis binary system. Image credit: NAOJ.

Astronomers Detect Superflare from V1355 Orionis

Apr 28, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

V1355 Orionis (also known as HD 291095) is an RS CVn-type binary star system located 400 light-years away in the constellation of Orion. An artist’s...

Optical (left) and infrared (right) image of NGC 346 in the Small Magellanic Cloud; the positions of the main ionizing sources of NGC 346, namely SSN 7 and SSN 9, are highlighted by red and green squares, respectively. Image credit: A. Nota, ESA & STScI / NASA / ESA / CSA / O. Jones, UK ATC / G. De Marchi, ESTEC / M. Meixner, USRA / A. Pagan, STScI / N. Habel, USRA / L. Lenkic, USRA / L. Chu, NASA’s Ames Research Center.

Two Massive Touching Stars Will Merge as Black Holes in 18 Billion Years, Astronomers Predict

Apr 27, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

SSN 7 is a so-called contact binary located in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy some 210,000 light-years away in the constellation of Tucana....

In this artist’s conception, M87*’s massive jet is seen rising up from the center of the black hole. Image credit: S. Dagnello, NRAO, AUI & NSF.

New Images of Messier 87’s Black Hole Reveal Glowing Ring and Powerful Jet

Apr 27, 2023 by News Staff

In 2017, astronomers from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration captured the first image of a black hole by coordinating radio dishes around...

An artist’s impression of FRB 110523 reaching Earth; the colors represent the burst arriving at different radio wavelengths, with long wavelengths (red) arriving seconds after short wavelengths (blue). Image credit: Jingchuan Yu / Beijing Planetarium.

Astronomers Discover 25 New Repeating Fast Radio Bursts

Apr 26, 2023 by News Staff

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are microsecond-millisecond flashes of radio waves that are detectable over extragalactic distances; some FRB sources repeat....

This illustration shows how the ultrahot Jupiter KELT-9b sees its host star. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Chris Smith, USRA.

Terbium Detected in Atmosphere of Ultrahot Jupiter KELT-9b

Apr 26, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Terbium, a chemical element with the symbol Tb and atomic number 65, has never before been seen in an exoplanet atmosphere. This illustration shows how...

Siraj & Loeb explore the possibility that accretion flares resulting from the tidal disruption of small Oort Cloud bodies by a putative primordial black hole could power an observable optical signal that could be searched for with the upcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time. Image credit: Sci-News.com / Zdeněk Bardon / ESO.

New Research Explores Behavior of Intermediate-Mass Black Holes

Apr 26, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Intermediate-mass black holes in the mass range between 100 and 100,000 solar masses are the missing link between stellar-mass black holes and super massive...

This illustration depicts the asteroid Phaethon being heated by the Sun. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / IPAC.

Comet-Like Tail of Near-Earth Asteroid Phaethon is Not Made of Dust, Astronomers Say

Apr 25, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

New research shows that Phaethon’s comet-like activity cannot be explained by any kind of dust. This illustration depicts the asteroid Phaethon being...

This Webb image shows member galaxies of the galaxy cluster A2744-z7p9OD. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / T. Morishita, IPAC / A. Pagan, STScI.

Webb Spots Galaxy Protocluster in Early Universe

Apr 25, 2023 by News Staff

The seven galaxies highlighted in this new image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have been confirmed to be at a distance that astronomers...

The left panel shows a three-color composite mosaic of NGC 346 combining Webb’s F277W (blue), F335M (green) and F444W (red) filters. The region is rich in structures of knots, arcs and filaments. Areas of bright pink and/or red emission are associated with clumpy star formation. The spatially resolved PAH emission excited by ultraviolet photons in green is brightest in regions corresponding to the edges of dense material, characteristic of a photodissociation region. Massive stars, stars belonging to the BS90 cluster (circled in green) and the Small Magellanic Cloud field population are also visible. The right panel shows a mosaic image from the F335M filter showing four different populations of stars: pre-main-sequence stars (blue circles), young stellar objects with Paα (orange diamonds), young stellar objects without Paα (red squares) and stars matched with the HST-PMS catalogue (purple stars). Image credit: Jones et al., doi: 10.1038/s41550-023-01945-7.

Webb Detects Planetary Ingredients in NGC 346

Apr 25, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Located in the Small Magellanic Cloud at a distance of roughly 200,000 light-years, NGC 346 is a prominent young cluster — roughly 3 million years...

This Hubble image shows ACO S520, a collection of oval-shaped, elliptical galaxies some 3.4 billion light-years away in the constellation of Pictor. Image ctedit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / H. Ebeling.

Hubble Spots Group of Oval-Shaped, Elliptical Galaxies in Pictor

Apr 24, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured a stunning image of the unusual galaxy cluster ACO S520. This Hubble image shows ACO...