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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.

Extreme Black Holes Have Gravitational Hair that Can Be Measured, Physicists Say

Jan 27, 2021 by News Staff

Gravitational-wave detectors can be used to measure gravitational-field hair of extreme black holes, according to a paper published in the journal Physical...

Agol et al. measure the density of the seven TRAPPIST-1 planets. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

TRAPPIST-1 Planets Have Remarkably Similar Densities, Study Shows

Jan 26, 2021 by News Staff

The seven rocky exoplanets orbiting TRAPPIST-1, an ultracool dwarf star located 38.8 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius, are about 8% less...

An artist’s impression of the TOI-178 system. Image credit: L. Calçada / ESO / Spaceengine.org.

Nearby Orange Dwarf Hosts Unique System of Six Planets

Jan 25, 2021 by News Staff

The TOI-178 planetary system, a 7.1-billion-year-old system of six planets in the super-Earth to mini-Neptune range, five of which are locked in a rare...

Structure of TIC 168789840, a sextuple system of three eclipsing binaries arranged as inner quadruple AC and outer binary B. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

TESS Discovers Sextuply-Eclipsing Six-Star System

Jan 25, 2021 by Natali Anderson

TIC 168789840 is the first known sextuple (six-star) system consisting of three eclipsing binaries. Structure of TIC 168789840, a sextuple system of three...

This Hubble image shows ESO 455-10, a planetary nebula located in the constellation of Scorpius. The color image is composed of near-infrared and optical observations from 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 / L. Stanghellini.

Hubble Spots Beautiful Planetary Nebula

Jan 25, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA has released a spectacular photo taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of the planetary nebula ESO 455-10. This Hubble image shows ESO 455-10,...

An artist’s illustration of the hot-Jupiter WASP-62b. Image credit: M. Weiss / Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Cloudless Hot-Jupiter Exoplanet Spotted

Jan 22, 2021 by News Staff

A transiting gas giant called WASP-62b has a cloud- and haze-free atmosphere, according to new research. An artist’s illustration of the hot-Jupiter...

Carr et al. investigated how stupendously large black holes could form and potential limits to their size. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Stupendously Large Black Holes Could Be Hiding in Universe

Jan 22, 2021 by News Staff

If ‘stupendously large’ black holes, those with masses more than 100 billion times that of the Sun, exist in the Universe, they would provide a powerful...

An example of a gravitational lens found in the DESI Legacy Surveys data. There are four sets of lensed images in DESI-090.9854-35.9683, corresponding to four distinct background galaxies -- from the outermost giant red arc to the innermost bright blue arc, arranged in four concentric circles. All of them are gravitationally lensed by the orange galaxy at the very center. Image credit: NOIRLab.

Astronomers Discover 1,210 New Strong Gravitational Lenses

Jan 21, 2021 by News Staff

Using a deep residual neural network and data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Legacy Imaging Surveys, astronomers have discovered...

Hubble Sheds New Light on Formation of Planetary Nebulae

Jan 20, 2021 by News Staff

New images of the Butterfly Nebula and the Jewel Bug Nebula taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope are revealing information about how planetary...

This image shows the giant radio galaxy MGTC J095959.63+024608.6; in the background is the sky as seen in optical light; overlaid in red is the radio light from the giant radio galaxy, as seen by MeerKAT. Image credit: I. Heywood, University of Oxford / Rhodes University / South African Radio Astronomy Observatory / CC BY 4.0.

Two New Giant Radio Galaxies Discovered

Jan 20, 2021 by News Staff

Astronomers using the MeerKAT radio telescope at the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory in Cape Town, South Africa, have discovered two new radio...

An artist’s impression of a neutron star. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Astrophysicists May Have Found Evidence of Long-Sought Axions

Jan 19, 2021 by News Staff

First theorized in the 1970s, axions are hypothetical particles that were proposed to preserve a time-reversal symmetry of the nuclear force. These particles...

An artist’s rendition of a giant star in orbit around a low-mass black hole. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Physicists Propose New Way to Extract Energy from Black Holes

Jan 19, 2021 by News Staff

Spinning black holes store rotational energy that can be extracted; when a black hole is immersed in an externally supplied magnetic field, reconnection...

An artist’s impression of WASP-107b. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / M. Kornmesser.

Super-Puff Exoplanet WASP-107b is Even Stranger than Thought

Jan 19, 2021 by News Staff

With a mass of 1.8 Neptune masses and a radius of Jupiter, WASP-107b presents a challenge to planet formation theories. An artist’s impression of WASP-107b....

This artist’s impression shows the first interstellar asteroid -- 1I/2017 U1 (’Oumuamua). Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Alien Debris Passed through Solar System in 2017, Astronomer Says

Jan 18, 2021 by Natali Anderson

Professor Abraham (Avi) Loeb of Harvard University believes that 1I/2017 U1 ‘Oumuamua, a fast moving, cigar-shaped object of extrasolar origin discovered...

This illustration shows KOI-5Ab transiting across the face of the Sun-like star KOI-5A. Image credit: Caltech / R. Hurt, Infrared Processing and Analysis Center.

TESS Confirms Sub-Saturn Exoplanet in Triple-Star System KOI-5

Jan 18, 2021 by News Staff

Shortly after NASA’s Kepler mission began operations back in 2009, it identified what was thought to be a planet about the size of Neptune. Called KOI-5Ab,...

This Hubble image shows the barred spiral galaxy NGC 4535. The color image is made up of observations from Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) in the ultraviolet, near-infrared, and optical parts of the spectrum. Five 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. Lee / PHANGS-HST Team.

Hubble Snaps Image of Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 4535

Jan 18, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have produced a spectacularly detailed image of the central region of NGC 4535. This Hubble image...

This Hubble image shows the supernova remnant 1E 0102.2-7219. Image credit: NASA / ESA / J. Banovetz & D. Milisavljevic, Purdue University.

Hubble Observes Young Supernova Remnant in Small Magellanic Cloud

Jan 15, 2021 by News Staff

A massive star exploded in the Small Magellanic Cloud between 2,000 and 1,000 years ago and left behind an expanding, gaseous remnant called 1E 0102.2-7219....

This visualization represents a 3D map of brown dwarfs (red dots) that have been discovered within 65 light-years of the Sun. The Sun, which is not shown, is located at the center of the view. The disk of the Milky Way appears in the background. Other stars close to the Sun appear as variously colored points in the field. Image credit: NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. da Silva.

Astronomers Discover 38 New Cool Brown Dwarfs in Solar Neighborhood

Jan 15, 2021 by News Staff

Astronomers and citizen scientists from the Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project have announced an unprecedented census of 525 L, T, and Y-type dwarfs within...

An artist’s impression of the quasar J031343.84-180636.4. Image credit: NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. da Silva.

Astronomers Discover Most Distant Quasar Yet

Jan 14, 2021 by News Staff

The newly-discovered quasar is located approximately 13.03 billion light-years away from Earth. Designated J031343.84-180636.4 (J0313-1806 for short),...