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This image shows several supra-arcade downflows occurring in a solar flare; the downflows appear directly above the bright flare arcade; this solar flare occurred on June 18, 2015. Image credit: SDO / NASA.

Astronomers Propose New Explanation for Finger-Like Features Seen in Some Solar Flares

Jan 27, 2022 by News Staff

Dr. Chengcai Shen from the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and colleagues have analyzed images of the so-called supra-arcade downflows...

An artist’s impression of what the object might look like if it’s a magnetar. Image credit: ICRAR.

Radio Astronomers Discover Compact Object with Ultra-Powerful Magnetic Field

Jan 27, 2022 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) telescope have discovered a spinning object that pulses every 18.18 minutes; they’ve localized...

The sinuous young stellar jet, MHO 2147, meanders lazily across a field of stars in this image captured by the Gemini South telescope. Image credit: International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / T.A. Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage & NSF’s NOIRLab / M. Zamani, NSF’s NOIRLab / D. de Martin, NSF’s NOIRLab / L. Ferrero, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba.

Two Bipolar Stellar Jets Observed from Young Stars

Jan 26, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using the Gemini Multi-conjugate Adaptive Optics System (GeMS) and the Gemini South Adaptive Optics Imager (GSAOI) on the 8.1-m Gemini South telescope...

An artist’s impression of the James Webb Space Telescope. Image credit: ESA.

Webb Arrives at Second Lagrange Point of Sun-Earth System

Jan 25, 2022 by News Staff

On January 24, 2021, the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope fired its thrusters for 297 seconds to complete the final post launch course correction...

This image shows two spiral galaxies: NGC 4567 (left) and NGC 4568 (right). The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the visible and near-infrared regions of the spectrum with the FORS2 instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. It is based on data obtained through four filters. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: ESO.

Astronomers Observe Pair of Colliding Spiral Galaxies

Jan 25, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

ESO astronomers have released an absolutely beautiful photo taken by the FOcal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrograph 2 (FORS2) instrument on ESO’s...

This image shows NGC 7764A, a group of three galaxies located 425 million light-years away in the constellation of Phoenix. The color image is made up of observations from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Victor M. Blanco 4-m Telescope in the near-infrared and optical parts of the spectrum. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / J. Dalcanton, Dark Energy Survey / DOE / FNAL, DECam / CTIO / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / ESO / Judy Schmidt, www.geckzilla.com.

Hubble Spots Beautiful Trio of Galaxies

Jan 24, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured this image of a group of three galaxies, collectively known as NGC 7764A. This image shows NGC 7764A,...

A pullout of the central region of the dwarf starburst galaxy Henize 2-10 traces an outflow, or bridge of hot gas 230 light-years long, connecting the galaxy’s massive black hole and a star-forming region. Hubble data on the velocity of the outflow from the black hole, as well as the age of the young stars, indicates a causal relationship between the two. A few million years ago, the outflow of hot gas slammed into the dense cloud of a stellar nursery and spread out, like water from a hose impacting a mound of dirt. Now clusters of young stars are aligned perpendicular to the outflow, revealing the path of its spread. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Zachary Schutte & Amy Reines, eXtreme Gravity Institute, Montana State University / Alyssa Pagan, STScI.

Supermassive Black Hole Triggered Star Formation in Dwarf Galaxy

Jan 20, 2022 by News Staff

Astronomers have observed the central regions of Henize 2-10, a dwarf starburst galaxy previously reported to have a central massive black hole, at optical...

An artist’s impression of a group of stellar-mass black holes in the center of NGC 6397. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / N. Bartmann.

Universe is Teeming with Quintillions of Stellar-Mass Black Holes

Jan 19, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of astrophysicists from Italy and the United Kingdom has calculated that in the observable Universe, a sphere of diameter around 90 billion light-years,...

The streak from a Starlink satellite appears in this image of the Andromeda galaxy, taken by the Zwicky Transient Facility during twilight on May 19, 2021. Image credit: ZTF / Caltech.

Astronomers Analyze Impact of SpaceX’s Starlink Satellites

Jan 18, 2022 by News Staff

Astronomers have analyzed archival images from NSF’s Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF), which provides an ideal setup to study the effects of low-Earth-orbit...

An artist’s impression of the super-Neptune exoplanet TOI-1728b. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Computer Simulations Shed New Light on Gas Giant Formation

Jan 17, 2022 by News Staff

Solar system’s gas giants, such as Jupiter, Saturn, and massive exoplanets, were formed via the gas accretion onto the solid cores, each with a mass...

A slice through the 3D map of galaxies from the first few months of the DESI survey. The Earth is at the center, with the furthest galaxies plotted at distances of 10 billion light-years. Each point represents one galaxy. This version of the DESI map shows a subset of 400,000 of the 35 million galaxies that will be in the final map. Image credit: D. Schlegel / DESI / Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory / M. Zamani, NSF’s NOIRLab.

DESI Creates Largest and Most Detailed Map of Universe Ever

Jan 17, 2022 by News Staff

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), a multi-object survey spectrograph installed on the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-m Telescope at Kitt Peak National...

WASP-103b has been deformed by the strong tidal forces between the planet and its host star. Image credit: ESA.

CHEOPS Spots Tidally Deformed Planet around WASP-103

Jan 17, 2022 by News Staff

Astronomers have obtained 12 new high-precision transit observations of WASP-103b — a planet almost twice the size of Jupiter with 1.5 times its...

This image shows NGC 3318, a barred spiral galaxy some 115 million light-years away in the constellation of Vela. The color image is made up of observations from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and VLT’s Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument in the near-infrared and optical parts of the spectrum. 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 / ESO / R.J. Foley / R. Colombari.

NASA Releases Amazing New Photo of NGC 3318

Jan 17, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers using have produced a stunning new image of the...

An artist’s impression of the gas giant Kepler-1708b, its moon Kepler-1708b-i, and their parent star. Image credit: Helena Valenzuela Widerström.

Astronomers Find Exomoon Candidate around Jupiter-Sized Exoplanet Kepler-1708b

Jan 14, 2022 by News Staff

In their hunt for elusive exomoon candidates, astronomers have looked at 70 cool gas giants found by NASA’s Kepler space telescope. They’ve found only...

This Spitzer image shows the star-forming region NGC 2174. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Spitzer Sees Infant Stars in NGC 2174

Jan 14, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope have produced an outstanding infrared image of the star-forming region NGC 2174. This Spitzer image...

This X-ray image of the Milky Way’s center merges all Swift observations from 2006 through 2013; Sagittarius A* is at the center; low-energy (300 to 1,500 electron volts) X-rays appear red; green are medium-energy (1,500 to 3,000 eV); blue are high-energy (3,000 to 10,000 eV). Image credit: NASA / Swift / N. Degenaar.

Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole Flares Irregularly and Unpredictably, Astronomers Find

Jan 13, 2022 by News Staff

Sagittarius A*, the 4.3-million-solar-mass black hole at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy, is a strong source of radio, X-rays and gamma rays. It also...

This DEC image shows Centaurus A, a giant galaxy located some 13 million light-years away in the constellation of Centaurus. Image credit: CTIO / NOIRLab / DOE / NSF / AURA / M. Soraisam, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign & NOIRLab / T.A. Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage & NOIRLab / M. Zamani, NOIRLab / D. de Martin, NOIRLab.

Nearby Elliptical Galaxy Hosts At Least 1,900 Globular Clusters

Jan 13, 2022 by News Staff

A research team led by University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory astronomers presents a new catalog of 40,502 globular cluster candidates in Centaurus...

An artist’s illustration of the Local Bubble with star formation occurring on the bubble’s surface. Image credit: Leah Hustak, Space Telescope Science Institute.

1,000-Light-Year-Wide Local Bubble is Responsible for Formation of All Nearby, Young Stars

Jan 12, 2022 by News Staff

Space Telescope Science Institute astronomer and data visualization expert Dr. Catherine Zucker and her colleagues have shown how a chain of events beginning...

This graphic shows X-rays that NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory detected from the dwarf galaxy Mrk 462. This X-ray emission (inset) is important because it reveals the presence of a growing supermassive black hole within this relatively small galaxy. The mass contained in this black hole -- about 200,000 times the mass of the Sun -- provides information to astronomers about how some of the earliest black holes in the Universe may have formed and grown billions of years ago. The background panel is an optical image from the Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii. There are several galaxies that are part of the HCG068 galaxy group on the left-hand side of the image. The galaxy that is emitting copious amounts of X-rays, however, is the much smaller galaxy located to the lower right of the image (marked by the arrow). Image credit: NASA / CXC / Dartmouth College / J. Parker & R. Hickox / Pan-STARRS.

Chandra Detects Mini-Supermassive Black Hole in Star-Forming Dwarf Galaxy

Jan 11, 2022 by News Staff

A supermassive black hole with 200,000 solar masses is located in the middle of the dwarf galaxy Markarian 462 (Mrk 462), according to new research led...