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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),...

An artist’s rendition of the TOI-561 planetary system. Image credit: Adam Makarenko / W.M. Keck Observatory.

Astronomers Discover 10-Billion-Year-Old Multiplanet System

Jan 13, 2021 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite and the High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer on the Keck I telescope at the W. M. Keck...

A supermassive black hole siphons gas off of an orbiting giant star. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Chris Smith, USRA & GESTAR.

Astronomers Find Periodically Flaring Black Hole in Distant Galaxy

Jan 13, 2021 by News Staff

An active galactic nucleus in the center of ESO 253-G003, an active galaxy over 570 million light-years away in the southern constellation of Pictor, erupts...

An artist’s impression of the ID2299 galaxy. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Galaxy Mergers May Play Important Role in Quenching of Star Formation in Massive Galaxies

Jan 12, 2021 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have discovered a massive starburst galaxy with a tail of star-forming gas in...

This composite image of Swift J1818.0-1607 contains a wide field of view in the infrared from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer, taken before the magnetar’s discovery. X-rays from Chandra show the magnetar in purple. Image credit: NASA / CXC / University of West Virginia / H. Blumer / JPL / Caltech / Spitzer.

Chandra Observes Young, Fast Spinning Magnetar and Its Environment

Jan 12, 2021 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have studied Swift J1818.0-1607, a new magnetar (a type of neutron star with an extremely powerful...

A long-exposure observation lasting 70 min from the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-m Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab, reveals NGC 1003 in glorious detail. This spiral galaxy resides in front of a galaxy cluster and the long exposure time of this deep observation allowed usually overlooked red background cluster galaxies to be captured. Image credit: KPNO / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / Maria T. Patterson, New Mexico State University / Travis Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage / Mahdi Zamani & Davide de Martin.

Astronomers Capture Deep Image of Spiral Galaxy NGC 1003

Jan 12, 2021 by News Staff

A spectacular new image, taken with the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-m Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, shows the spiral galaxy NGC 1003 and a collection...

This image, taken with VLT’s MUSE instrument, shows the central region of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 1097. Image credit: VLT / ESO / TIMER Survey.

VLT Spots Star-Bursting Nuclear Ring in NGC 1097

Jan 11, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) at ESO’s Paranal Observatory, astronomers have imaged...

An artist’s impression of the Neptune-sized planet NGTS-14Ab. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Neptune-Sized Exoplanet Discovered in Binary System NGTS-14

Jan 11, 2021 by Natali Anderson

NGTS-14Ab, an alien world slightly larger than Neptune orbiting around an orange dwarf in the binary system NGTS-14, joins a growing number of exoplanets...