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Vitral et al. suspect that an intermediate-mass black hole, weighing as much as 800 times the mass of our Sun, is lurking at the core of Messier 4. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Sci.News.

Intermediate-Mass Black Hole May Be Lurking in Messier 4

May 25, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Messier 4 is a globular cluster full of ancient stars in the constellation of Scorpius, approximately 7,200 light-years away. Vitral et al. suspect that...

This composite image features four separate images that combine X-ray data from Chandra and infrared data from Webb, and some data from other telescopes like Hubble, Spitzer and XMM-Newton. Image credit: NASA / CXC / SAO / ESA / XMM-Newton / CSA / STScI / JPL / CalTech / ESO / L. Frattare / J. Major / K. Arcand.

Webb Captures Two Galaxies, Star-Forming Nebula, and Star Cluster

May 24, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

New images that combine data from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope and several space- and ground-based telescopes show spiral galaxies NGC 1672...

This enormous image from Webb reveals never-before-seen details of the Stephan’s Quintet. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI.

Parity Symmetry Violation in Orientation of Galactic Shapes Could Explain Abundance of Matter

May 23, 2023 by News Staff

Symmetry is a tidy and attractive idea that falls apart in our untidy Universe. Indeed, since the 1960s, some kind of broken symmetry has been required...

Akins et al. used microwave observations to spot the first polar cyclone on Uranus, seen here as a light-colored dot to the right of center in each image of the planet. The images use wavelength bands K, Ka, and Q, from left. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / VLA.

VLA Spots Polar Cyclone on Uranus

May 23, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array in New Mexico have observed a bright, compact spot centered at Uranus’ north pole at several wavelengths....

An artist’s impression of Quaoar and its two rings. Quaoar’s moon Weywot is shown on the left. Image credit: ESA / Sci.News.

Astronomers Discover Second Ring around Quaoar

May 23, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Quaoar is a classical trans-Neptunian object with an equivalent diameter of 1,100 km. An artist’s impression of Quaoar and its two rings. Quaoar’s...

Artist’s impression depicting the separation of the Schiaparelli module from the Trace Gas Orbiter, and heading for Mars. Image credit: D. Ducros / ESA.

Astronomers Simulate Message from Extraterrestrial Civilization to Earth

May 23, 2023 by News Staff

On May 24, 2023, as part of the A Sign in Space project, ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) will transmit an encoded message to Earth to simulate...

An UAP from a declassified video captured by a U.S. Navy aircraft. Image credit: U.S. Navy.

Almost One-Fifth of Academic Survey Respondents Witnessed Unidentified Aerial Phenomena: Study

May 23, 2023 by News Staff

Recently, former and current government officials, legislators, and faculty in the United States have called for research on what their government terms...

These images of the Sun’s surface were captured by the Inouye Solar Telescope. Image credit: NSF / AURA / NSO.

Inouye Solar Telescope Captures New Images of Sun’s Surface

May 22, 2023 by News Staff

New images from the Visible-Broadband Imager (VBI) on NSF’s 4-m Inouye Solar Telescope show a variety of sunspots and quiet regions of the Sun. These...

This Hubble image shows JW39, a jellyfish galaxy some 900 million light-years away in the constellation of Coma Berenices. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the visible, near-infrared and ultraviolet regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s WFC3 instrument. Six filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / M. Gullieuszik / GASP Team.

Hubble Snaps Stunning Image of Jellyfish Galaxy

May 22, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a striking new photo of a jellyfish spiral galaxy called JW39. This Hubble image shows JW39, a jellyfish...

An artist’s impression of the exo-Earth LP 791-18d. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Chris Smith, KRBwyle.

Volcano-Covered Terrestrial Exoplanet Found Orbiting Nearby Star

May 19, 2023 by Natali Anderson

The newly-discovered planet has a radius of 1.03 Earth radii and a temperature between 27 and 127 degrees Celsius (81-261 degrees Fahrenheit), with the...

The two young, low-mass protostars HR 5999 and HR 6000 illuminate nearby dust, creating the reflection nebula Bernes 149. These stars grew out of the dusty dark cloud of Lupus 3, part of a larger complex of as many as nine dark clouds. Image credit: CTIO / NOIRLab / DOE / NSF / AURA / T.A. Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage & NSF’s NOIRLab / D. de Martin & M. Zamani, NSF’s NOIRLab.

Dark Energy Camera Captures Protostars in Nearby Interstellar Cloud

May 18, 2023 by News Staff

Using the 570-megapixel Dark Energy Camera at NSF/NOIRLab Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, astronomers have produced a stunning image...

An artist’s rendition of SN 2020eyj, a white dwarf star that went supernova after pulling material from a helium companion star. Image credit: Adam Makarenko / W.M. Keck Observatory.

Astronomers Detect Radio Waves from Type Ia Supernova

May 18, 2023 by News Staff

The detection of the Type Ia supernova SN 2020eyj at radio wavelengths show that the exploded white dwarf had a helium-rich companion. An artist’s rendition...

The enlarged inset view reveals four images of SN Refsdal, spotted in 2014, arranged around a giant elliptical galaxy within the cluster. The light from the supernova passes so closely to the galaxy’s dense core that several light paths are redirected and focused toward Earth. The result is that astronomers see four images that form an Einstein Cross. The blue streaks wrapping around the galaxy are the stretched images of SN Refsdal’s parent spiral galaxy, which has been distorted by the warping of space. Computer models of the cluster predict that another image of the stellar blast will appear within 5 years. The red circle marks the possible location of the next supernova image. Astronomers may have missed an earlier appearance of the supernova in 1995, as marked by the blue circle. These multiple appearances of the exploding star are due to the various paths its light is taking through the maze of clumpy dark matter in the galactic grouping. Each image takes a different route through the cluster and arrives at a different time, due, in part, to differences in the length of the pathways the light follows to reach Earth. Image credit: NASA / ESA / S. Rodney, JHU / FrontierSN team / T. Treu, UCLA / P. Kelly, UC Berkeley / GLASS team / J. Lotz, STScI / Frontier Fields team / M. Postman, STScI / CLASH team / Z. Levay, STScI.

Light from Supernova Refsdal Helps Astronomers Measure Universe’s Expansion Rate

May 17, 2023 by News Staff

The gravitationally lensed Supernova (SN) Refsdal was discovered by University of Minnesota astronomer Patrick Kelly in 2014 in the field of MACS J1149.6+2223,...

This artist’s concept of shows the main-belt comet 238P/Read sublimating -- its water ice vaporizing as its orbit approaches the Sun. Image credit: NASA / ESA.

Webb Detects Water Vapor around Main-Belt Comet 238P/Read

May 16, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The new observations from the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) aboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope show that the main-belt comet 238P/Read...

An artist’s impression of how astronomical forces affect the Earth’s motion, climate, and ice sheets. Image credit: NAOJ.

Astronomical Forcings Shaped Timing of Glacial Cycles during Early Pleistocene, Study Says

May 15, 2023 by News Staff

Glacial cycles during the Early Pleistocene epoch are characterized by a dominant 41,000-year periodicity and amplitudes smaller than those of glacial...

An artist’s impression of a black hole accretion. Image credit: John A. Paice.

Astronomers Observe Extraordinary Accretion Event in Distant Galaxy

May 15, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

AT2021lwx occurred nearly 8 billion years ago and was more than 10 times brighter than any known supernova explosion. The event was likely caused by the...

This Hubble image shows NGC 6325, a globular cluster some 26,000 light-years away in the constellation of Ophiuchus. The color image includes both optical and near-infrared observations from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). Four filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / E. Noyola / R. Cohen.

Hubble Space Telescope Spies Glittering Globular Cluster

May 15, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have captured a striking new photo of the densely packed globular cluster NGC 6325. This Hubble...

The highly variable magnetic field around the source of FRB 20190520B. Image credit: Di Li / ScienceApe / CAS.

Astronomers Detect Highly Variable Magnetic Field around Source of Repeating Fast Radio Burst

May 12, 2023 by News Staff

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are brief flashes of radio waves from distant galaxies that are probably emitted by neutron stars. Some FRBs repeat, which enables...

Ongoing star formation processes as observed by VIRCAM/VISTA in the VISIONS program. The top panel shows L1688 in the Ophiuchus star-forming complex, depicting several dozen prominent young stellar objects located within one of the closest embedded clusters to Earth. The young stars are surrounded by a highly structured cloud composed of gas and dust that is largely being shaped by young, optically revealed hot stars in the vicinity. The bottom panels further highlight the complex morphology of the gaseous, dusty neighborhood of partly concealed young stars in the Ophiuchus molecular clouds L1709 and L1689. Image credit: Meingast et al., doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202245771.

Astronomers Create Infrared Atlas of Five Nearby Star-Forming Regions

May 11, 2023 by News Staff

As part of the VISIONS survey program, astronomers have surveyed five nearby star-forming molecular cloud complexes associated with the constellations...