Astronomy News

Phosphine in Atmosphere of Venus Points to Explosive Volcanic Activity

Artist’s impression of a volcano erupting on Venus. Image credit: ESA / AOES Medialab.
Jul 13, 2021 by News Staff

In 2020, planetary scientists detected small amounts of the biosignature gas phosphine (PH3) in the atmosphere of Venus using the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) and Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) radio telescopes. In a new paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a duo of scientists from Cornell University argues for the plausibility of volcanically extruded phosphide as an abiotic source of the atmospheric...

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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.

Theoretical Physicist Solves How Universe is Reflected near Black Hole

Jul 12, 2021 by News Staff

Black holes are famously compact objects where the paths of light are drastically bent by the curvature of space-time. While light itself cannot escape...

This Hubble image shows NGC 6380, a globular cluster some 35,500 light-years away in the constellation of Scorpius. The very bright star at the top of the image is HD 159073, which is only around 4,000 light-years from Earth. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the visible and near-infrared regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). Three 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.

Hubble Space Telescope Focuses on NGC 6380

Jul 12, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA has released a beautiful close-up shot snapped by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of the globular cluster NGC 6380. This Hubble image shows NGC...

Hubble captured this view of comet 46P/Wirtanen on December 13, 2018. Image credit: NASA / ESA / D. Bodewits, Auburn University / J.-Y. Li, Planetary Science Institute.

Astronomers Detect Unusual Amount of Methanol in Comet 46P/Wirtanen

Jul 9, 2021 by News Staff

Using the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSPEC) instrument at the Keck II telescope, astronomers conducted near-infrared spectroscopic observations of the...

The red giant star SMSS J200322.54-114203.3 (center) in the south-eastern corner of the constellation of Aquila, close to the border with Capricornus and Sagittarius. Image credit: Da Costa / SkyMapper.

Ancient Magneto-Rotational Hypernova Fuelled High Levels of Metals in Unique Star

Jul 8, 2021 by News Staff

An explosion of a fast-spinning strongly magnetized star, called a magneto-rotational hypernova, is the most likely explanation for the presence of unusually...

An artist’s impression of a free-floating exoplanet. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Kepler Data Reveal Four Earth-Mass Free-Floating Exoplanets

Jul 6, 2021 by News Staff

Using data from NASA’s Kepler/K2 mission, astronomers have detected four new microlensing events that are consistent with free-floating planets of similar...

Color-coded map of the distribution of stars emerging from the star cluster Palomar 5 (white blob); the two long tidal tails (orange) contain 1.3 times the mass of the cluster and delineate its orbit around the Milky Way Galaxy. Image credit: SDSS.

Palomar 5 Contains More Than 100 Stellar-Mass Black Holes: Study

Jul 6, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Palomar 5 is one of the sparsest star clusters in the halo of our Milky Way Galaxy and is best known for its spectacular tidal tails, spanning over 20...

This illustration depicts an exoplanet partially hidden in the glare of its host star and a nearby companion star. Image credit: Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. da Silva.

Earth-Sized Exoplanets May Be More Common than Previously Thought

Jul 5, 2021 by News Staff

In a study to be published in the Astronomical Journal, astronomers found that many exoplanet-hosting stars identified by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet...

This Hubble image shows two galaxies, 2MASX J03193743+4137580 (left) and UGC 2665 (right), in the Perseus cluster. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / W. Harris / L. Shatz.

Hubble Spots Enormous Galaxies in Perseus Cluster

Jul 5, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a striking photo of part of the Perseus cluster, a collection of thousands of galaxies approximately 240...

Photons emitted near rotating black holes encode quantum information that can be measured by actual quantum information technology. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Stephen Hawking’s Black-Hole Area Law Observationally Confirmed

Jul 1, 2021 by News Staff

Hawking’s black-hole area theorem, also known as the second law of black hole mechanics, states that the total horizon area of a classical black hole...

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

Smallest, Heaviest Known White Dwarf Discovered

Jul 1, 2021 by News Staff

The newly-discovered white dwarf, designated ZTF J190132.9+145808.7 (ZTF J1901+1458), has a mass of 1.35 solar masses and a radius of 2,140 km (1,330 miles),...

An artist’s rendition of the hot-Jupiter exoplanet TOI-1789b. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Inflated Hot Jupiter Found Orbiting TOI-1789

Jun 30, 2021 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) have discovered a transiting hot-Jupiter exoplanet around a slightly evolved star...

An artist’s impression of a black hole-neutron star merger. Image credit: Carl Knox, OzGrav & Swinburne University.

Astronomers Detect Gravitational Waves from Black Hole-Neutron Star Collisions

Jun 29, 2021 by News Staff

Astronomers using NSF’s Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) in the United States and by the Virgo detector in Italy have observed...

Las Cumbres/Hubble composite image of the electron-capture supernova SN 2018zd (the large white dot on the right) and the host starburst galaxy NGC 2146 (toward the left). Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / STScI / J. DePasquale, Las Cumbres Observatory.

Astronomers Discover Third Type of Supernova

Jun 29, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers has discovered the first convincing evidence for an electron-capture supernova, which is thought to arise from the...

This illustration shows comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein as it might look in the outer Solar System. Image credit: NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. da Silva.

Astronomers Discover Giant Comet in Outer Solar System

Jun 29, 2021 by News Staff

Comet Bernardinelli-Bernstein, which is between 100 and 200 km (62-124 miles) across, will make its closest approach to the Sun in 2031, according to an...

This Hubble image shows the open star cluster NGC 330. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). 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 / J. Kalirai / A. Milone.

Hubble Observes Open Cluster NGC 330

Jun 28, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured a striking new photo of NGC 330, an open star cluster that resides in the Small Magellanic...

This image from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory shows the supernova remnant MSH 15-52. Image credit: NASA / SAO / NCSU / Borkowski et al.

NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory Watches Fast Blast Wave from Exploded Star

Jun 25, 2021 by News Staff

A stellar structure known as the ‘Hand of God’ is a nebula of energy and particles blown by a pulsar left behind after a star exploded in our Milky...

This artist’s impression shows the evolution of the Universe beginning with the Big Bang on the left followed by the appearance of the Cosmic Microwave Background. The formation of the first stars ends the cosmic dark ages, followed by the formation of galaxies. Image credit: M. Weiss / Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

First Generation of Stars Emerged 250-350 Million Years after Big Bang, Astronomers Say

Jun 24, 2021 by News Staff

A team of astronomers from the United Kingdom and the United States has examined six of the most distant galaxies currently known and found that the distance...

This artist’s impression shows the view from the surface of one of the exoplanets in the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system. Image credit: ESO / M. Kornmesser / Spaceengine.org.

Alien Astronomers around 2,034 Nearby Stars Have Front-Row Seat to See Earth as Transiting Exoplanet

Jun 24, 2021 by News Staff

A team of astronomers from Cornell University and the American Museum of Natural History has identified 1,715 stars within 100 parsecs (326 light-years)...

This image of the open star cluster Westerlund 2 and its surroundings has been released to celebrate Hubble’s 25th year in orbit. The image’s central region, containing the star cluster, blends visible-light data taken by the Advanced Camera for Surveys and near-infrared exposures taken by the Wide Field Camera 3. The surrounding region is composed of visible-light observations taken by the Advanced Camera for Surveys. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team / STScI / AURA / A. Nota / Westerlund 2 Science Team.

SOFIA Observes Stellar Wind-Driven Bubble around Westerlund 2

Jun 23, 2021 by News Staff

Using data from NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) telescope, astronomers analyzed the movement of carbon atoms in an expanding...

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