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An artist’s concept depicting Elias 2-24b, the youngest exoplanet detected to date, still growing within the disk of gas and dust surrounding its young host star. Image credit: W.M. Keck Observatory / Adam Makarenko.

Astronomers Confirm Youngest Exoplanet Ever Found

Sep 23, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Named Elias 2-24b, the newly confirmed exoplanet is estimated to be less than 1 million years old — so young it is likely still gaining mass from...

This composite image shows the locations of hypersoft X-ray sources in the face-on spiral galaxy Messier 101. Image credit: NASA / CXC / Univ. of Alabama / Muhibullah et al. / ESA / STScI / SAO / N. Wolk.

Astronomers Discover New Class of X-Ray Objects

Sep 22, 2026 by News Staff

Named ‘hypersoft X-ray sources,’ these objects give off very low-energy X-rays that are difficult to detect. This composite image shows the locations...

This Hubble image shows NGC 4698, a barred spiral galaxy some 55 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / D. Thilker, MAUVE-HST Team.

Hubble Spots Spiral Galaxy Rotating Out of Sync with Itself

Sep 21, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

A barred spiral galaxy called NGC 4698 has a bizarre structure in which its central stars and gas rotate perpendicular to the galaxy’s main disk, possibly...

This image from ESO’s VISTA telescope shows the Large Magellanic Cloud. Image credit: ESO / Cioni et al.

VISTA Focuses on Inner Regions of Magellanic Clouds

Sep 16, 2026 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using ESO’s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) have observed the densest, most crowded regions at the centers of...

The distribution of dust (blue), gas (green) and ions (red) in the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS. Image credit: Lea Ferellec.

Study: Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Formed in Cold, Nitrogen-Rich Environment

Sep 14, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers have found new evidence that 3I/ATLAS, only the third confirmed interstellar object ever detected entering the Solar System from beyond, formed...

This artist’s concept depicts a trans-Neptunian object. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Leah Hustak, STScI.

Hubble and Webb Team Up to Spy Tiny Frozen Worlds beyond Neptune

Sep 9, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

For the first time, astronomers combined Hubble and Webb space telescopes to hunt down some of the smallest, faintest objects ever spotted in the outer...

Meteoroids bombarded the Earth-Moon system 800 million years ago. Image credit: Murayama, Osaka University.

Could Scoop of Moon Dust Reveal Alien Technology?

Sep 8, 2026 by Sergio Prostak

A cubic meter of lunar soil might be one of our best bets for finding physical proof that another advanced civilization once existed somewhere in the Milky...

This is an artist’s concept of a Type Ia supernova exploding in the intergalactic space between galaxies within a galactic cluster. Image credit: Alex Parker / NASA / SDSS.

Dark Energy May Not Be Constant After All, New Supernova Survey Suggests

Sep 8, 2026 by News Staff

Astronomers have combined 2,884 Type Ia supernovae — which are used to measure cosmic distances — with cosmic microwave background and galaxy-mapping...

Palomino Ylla et al. found a way to check for black hole hair using changes in ringdown waves. Image credit: Nagoya University.

Physicists Devise New Way to Listen for ‘Hairy’ Black Holes

Sep 7, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

When two black holes merge, the resulting object rings like a struck bell, radiating gravitational waves that fade in a distinctive pattern called ringdown....

This Hubble image shows the emission nebula LHA 120-N44. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / D. Gouliermis.

Hubble Spots ‘Superbubble’ in Large Magellanic Cloud

Sep 7, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new images from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reveals LHA 120-N44, a striking nebula located roughly 160,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic...

These Hubble images show Saturn and the gas giant’s southern pole with its 10-sided atmospheric wave. Image credit: NASA / ESA / STScI / Agustin Sánchez-Lavega, UPV / Amy Simon, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Michael Wong, UC Berkeley / Alyssa Pagan.

Astronomers Discover Decagonal Wave circling Saturn’s South Pole

Sep 2, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

For almost five decades, Saturn’s north pole has been famous for hosting a bizarre, six-sided jet stream known as the hexagon, a feature first spotted...

This image of NGC 7253 was captured by the Gemini North telescope on Maunakea, one half of the International Gemini Observatory. Image credit: International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. Miller & M. Rodriguez, International Gemini Observatory & NSF’s NOIRLab / T.A. Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage & NSF’s NOIRLab / D. de Martin & M. Zamani, NSF’s NOIRLab.

Gemini North Telescope Captures Stunning Portrait of Merging Spiral Galaxies

Sep 2, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new image from the Gemini North telescope on Maunakea in Hawai’i offers the sharpest look yet at a striking pair of interacting spiral galaxies, cataloged...

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Telescope lifted off on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on August 30, 2026 at 7:26 a.m. EDT. Image credit: NASA.

NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Launches on Mission to Probe Hidden Universe

Aug 30, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launched August 30, 2026 at 7:26 a.m. EDT (11:26 UTC) aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Launch Complex 39A at...

These Webb images show massive galaxies studied by Cheng et al. Image credit: Chloe Cheng.

Webb Find Hidden Stars Making Early Galaxies Far More Massive than Thought

Aug 26, 2026 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have revealed a surprisingly large population of faint, low-mass stars in distant galaxies,...

Little red dots may reside in small galaxies with total masses equivalent to around one billion times that of the Sun. Image credit: Zhang et al., doi: 10.1038/s41550-026-02945-z.

Mysterious ‘Little Red Dots’ Could Be Tiny Galaxies with Giant Black Holes at Their Hearts

Aug 25, 2026 by News Staff

The mysterious objects spotted in the early Universe may not be isolated points of light after all. A new analysis of images of 217 ‘little red dots’...

This image of Phobos in front of the Sun was captured by Perseverance’s Mastcam-Z camera on August 12, 2026. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU / MSSS / SSI.

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Spots Phobos Crossing the Sun

Aug 24, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Perseverance has caught the silhouette of Phobos, one of the two Martian moons, sweeping across the solar disk in a fresh transit video from Jezero crater. This...

This ALMA image shows the red supergiant star Betelgeuse. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / Dent et al.

ALMA Reveals Betelgeuse’s Fiery, Long-Lived Hot Spots

Aug 24, 2026 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array have captured stunning new images of the surface of Betelgeuse, the famous red supergiant...

An artist’s impression of the super-Earth HD 39091c. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Astronomers Discover Rare ‘Mega-Earth’ Exoplanet: Gliese 523b

Aug 21, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Gliese 523b (GJ 523b) is a young, ultra-dense planet that orbits almost perpendicular to its star’s spin, according to a team of U.S. astronomers. An...

This sequence of images, taken with the GRAVITY instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer, show several stars orbiting Sagittarius A*. One of these stars, known as S301, was recently found to pass much closer to the black hole than any other known star. Image credit: ESO / GRAVITY Collaboration.

Newly-Discovered Star Could Finally Reveal Spin of Our Galaxy’s Central Black Hole

Aug 19, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers have spotted a faint, previously unknown star whipping around Sagittarius A*, the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole, on the tightest and...