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Humans Will Likely Not Have Ability to Visit Nearby Exoplanets Anytime Soon, Expert Says

Jan 25, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers recently announced the discovery of TOI-700e, a habitable-zone, Earth-sized planet some 102 light-years away in the southern constellation...

This image is a small extract of the DECaPS2 survey of the Milky Way. Image credit: DECaPS2 / DOE / FNAL / DECam / CTIO / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / M. Zamani & D. de Martin, NSF’s NOIRLab.

Astronomers Release Gargantuan Survey of Milky Way’s Galactic Plane

Jan 24, 2023 by News Staff

The second data release of the Dark Energy Camera Plane Survey (DECaPS2), which took two years to complete and produced more than 10 terabytes of data...

This Webb image features the central region of the Chameleon I dark molecular cloud, which resides 630 light-years away in the constellation of Chamaeleon; the cold, wispy cloud material (blue, center) is illuminated in the infrared by the glow of the young, outflowing protostar Ced 110 IRS 4 (orange, upper left); the light from numerous background stars, seen as orange dots behind the cloud, can be used to detect ices in the cloud, which absorb the starlight passing through them. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / M. Zamani, ESA & Webb / F. Sun, Steward Observatory / Z. Smith, Open University / Ice Age ERS Team.

Webb Reveals Rich Composition of Interstellar Molecular Cloud Ices

Jan 23, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have detected water ice as well as frozen forms of carbonyl sulfide, ammonia, methane, and...

Computer simulation of neutron stars merging to form a black hole, with their accretion disks interacting to produce electromagnetic waves. Image credit: L. Rezolla, AEI / M. Koppitz, AEI & Zuse-Institut Berlin.

Gravitational Waves May Reveal Start of Time, Physicists Say

Jan 23, 2023 by News Staff

Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory physicists Deepen Garg and Ilya Dodin say they can better understand the state of the cosmos shortly after the Big...

This Hubble image shows two stars: the Orion variable star V 372 Orionis and the emission-line star BD-05 1307. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / J. Bally / M. Robberto.

Hubble Spots Two Prominent Stars in Orion Nebula

Jan 23, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have taken a detailed image of a small part of the famous Orion Nebula. This Hubble image shows two...

The radio image of SDSS J0826+5630. Image credit: Chakraborty & Roy, doi: 10.1093/mnras/stac3696.

Astronomers Detect Radio Signal from Strongly Gravitationally Lensed Galaxy

Jan 18, 2023 by News Staff

Using archival data from the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope, astronomers have captured a radio signal at a specific wavelength known as the 21 cm line...

A part of the Galactic plane as seen by the ASKAP radio telescope and the Parkes radio telescope, Murriyang, showing supernova remnants and the space between the stars. Image credit: R. Kothes, NRC / PEGASUS Team.

Radio Astronomers Discover New Supernova Remnants in Milky Way Galaxy

Jan 17, 2023 by News Staff

Using the ASKAP and Parkes radio telescopes in Australia, astronomers have observed a large section of the Galactic plane of the Milky Way. A part of the...

This illustration shows the inner and outer halos of our Milky Way Galaxy. Image credit: NASA / ESA / A. Feild, STScI.

Milky Way’s Stellar Halo is At Least Two Million Light-Years Across

Jan 16, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers from the University of California, Santa Cruz and elsewhere have discovered 208 new RR Lyrae variable stars in the halo of our Milky Way Galaxy;...

This Hubble image shows the dwarf irregular galaxy UGC 7983. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / R. Tully.

Hubble Space Telescope Spies UGC 7983

Jan 16, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

UGC 7983 is a dwarf irregular galaxy, a type thought to be similar to the very earliest galaxies in the Universe. This Hubble image shows the dwarf irregular...

This image, taken by the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) onboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, shows the star cluster NGC 346. Webb reveals the presence of many more building blocks than previously expected, not only for stars, but also planets, in the form of clouds packed with dust and hydrogen. The plumes and arcs of gas in this image contains two types of hydrogen. The pink gas represents energized hydrogen, which is typically as hot as around 10,000 degrees Celsius (approximately 18,000 degrees Fahrenheit) or more, while the more orange gas represents dense, molecular hydrogen, which is much colder at around minus 200 degrees Celsius or less (approximately minus 300 degrees Fahrenheit), and associated dust. The colder gas provides an excellent environment for stars to form, and, as they do, they change the environment around them. The effect of this is seen in the various ridges throughout, which are created as the light of these young stars breaks down the dense clouds. The many pillars of glowing gas show the effects of this stellar erosion throughout the region. In this image blue was assigned to the wavelength of 2.0 microns (F200W), green was assigned to 2.77 microns (F277W), orange was assigned to 3.35 microns (F335M), and red was assigned to 4.44 microns (F444W). Image credit: 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.

Webb Probes Most Massive Star-Forming Region of Small Magellanic Cloud

Jan 13, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have revealed many new pockets of star formation in NCG 346, an open star cluster in the...

An artist’s impression of LHS 475b and its parent star. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Leah Hustak, STScI.

Webb Confirms Earth-Sized Planet around LHS 475

Jan 12, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have validated the discovery of a warm, 0.99 Earth-radius exoplanet interior to the habitable...

This artist’s conception shows the galaxy merger and its two central black holes. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / M. Weiss, NRAO, AUI & NSF.

UGC 4211’s Pair of Supermassive Black Holes is Closest to Colliding Ever Seen

Jan 11, 2023 by News Staff

While close together in cosmological terms at just 750 light-years apart, or 6x the black hole sphere of influence, the supermassive black holes in the...

An artist’s impression of TOI-700e (larger planet) and TOI-700d. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Robert Hurt.

TESS Discovers Second Earth-Sized Planet in Habitable Zone of TOI-700

Jan 10, 2023 by Natali Anderson

The newly-discovered alien world, named TOI-700e, is 95% Earth’s size and likely rocky. An artist’s impression of TOI-700e (larger planet) and TOI-700d....

A neutron star (blue sphere) spins in the center of a colorful disk of gas, some of which follows the magnetic field (blue lines) and flows (blue-white arcs) onto the object’s surface. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab.

Astronomers Discover Short-Lived Superheavy Neutron Stars

Jan 10, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers have examined data about 700 short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) detected with NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope,...

A trio of faint galaxies (circled) captured in the Webb’s deep image of the galaxy cluster SMACS J0723.3-7327 exhibit properties remarkably similar to rare, small galaxies called green peas found much closer to home. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI.

Webb Finds Green Pea Galaxies in Early Universe

Jan 10, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have detected three high-redshift galaxies with remarkable similarities to ‘green pea’...

This artist’s conception shows a zoomed in view of MWC 349A and its surrounding disk of gas and dust that are being shaped by the winds and high-speed jet. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / M. Weiss, NRAO, AUI & NSF.

ALMA Spots Hidden Jet from Oddball Star MWC 349A

Jan 9, 2023 by News Staff

The jet observed by the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is ejecting material away from MWC 349A at a blistering 500 km per second (311...

This Hubble image shows two nearby galaxies: the irregular galaxy LEDA 48062 (right) and the lenticular galaxy UGC 8603 (left); several smaller galaxies in various orientations cluster around LEDA 48062 and UGC 8603. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / R. Tully.

Hubble Focuses on Galaxies in Milky Way’s Neighborhood

Jan 9, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

A stunning new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows two nearby galaxies, LEDA 48062 and UGC 8603, located in the constellation of Canes...

Montage of Webb images showing six example barred galaxies, two of which represent the highest lookback times quantitatively identified and characterized to date. The labels in the top left of each figure show the lookback time of each galaxy, ranging from 8.4 to 11 billion years ago (Gyr), when the Universe was a mere 40% to 20% of its present age. Image credit: NASA / CEERS / University of Texas at Austin.

Webb Finds Six Barred Galaxies in Early Universe

Jan 5, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have spotted early galaxies with stellar bars — elongated features of stars stretching...

These Hubble images show two massive galaxy clusters: MOO J1014+0038 (left) and SPT-CL J2106-5844 (right). The artificially added blue color is translated from Hubble data that captured a phenomenon called intracluster light. This extremely faint glow traces a smooth distribution of light from wandering stars scattered across the cluster. Billions of years ago the stars were shed from their parent galaxies and now drift through intergalactic space. Image credit: NASA / ESA / STScI / James Jee, Yonsei University / Joseph DePasquale, STScI.

Hubble Detects Intracluster Light from Distant Galaxy Clusters

Jan 5, 2023 by News Staff

Intracluster light is diffuse light from stars that are gravitationally bound not to individual member galaxies, but to the halo of galaxy clusters. In...