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ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope Observes Seagull Nebula

Colorful and wispy Sharpless 2-296 forms the ‘wings ‘ of an area of sky known as the Seagull Nebula -- named for its resemblance to a gull in flight. This celestial bird contains a fascinating mix of intriguing astronomical objects. Glowing clouds weave amid dark dust lanes and bright stars. The Seagull Nebula -- made up of dust, hydrogen, helium and traces of heavier elements -- is the hot and energetic birthplace of new stars. Image credit: ESO / VPHAS+ Team / N.J. Wright, Keele University.
Aug 8, 2019 by News Staff

The VLT Survey Telescope (VST), a large telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory, has taken a brilliant picture of the Seagull Nebula, which lies along the border between the constellations of Canis Major and Monoceros, at a distance of 3,700 light-years. Colorful and wispy Sharpless 2-296 forms the ‘wings ‘ of an area of sky known as the Seagull Nebula — named for its resemblance to a gull in flight. This celestial bird contains a fascinating...

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Reconstruction of Heracles inexpectatus, dwarfing a bevy of 3.1-inch (8 cm) high Kuiornis -- small New Zealand wrens scuttling about on the forest floor. Image credit: Brian Choo, Flinders University.

World’s Largest Parrot Lived 19 Million Years Ago in New Zealand

Aug 7, 2019 by News Staff

An international group of paleontologists has found two incomplete bones from an ancient parrot with a mass of 7 kg, double that of the heaviest known...

Avocado Genome Sequenced

Aug 7, 2019 by News Staff

A multinational team of researchers has sequenced the genomes of Mexican, Guatemalan and West Indian avocados, and the most commercially popular hybrid...

The skull of Ngwevu intloko. Image credit: Kimberley Chapelle.

Meet Ngwevu intloko, New Jurassic Dinosaur from South Africa

Aug 6, 2019 by News Staff

A new genus and species of sauropodomorph dinosaur has been described — after its fossilized remains spent more than three decades sitting in a museum. The...

This image shows HIP 52181 (blue star in the center), a pulsating subdwarf O-star. Image credit: Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg / SIMBAD / SDSS.

New Class of Pulsating Stars Discovered

Aug 6, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers from the United States, Germany and Israel has discovered a new class of pulsators that vary in brightness every 5...

Supermassive black holes at the cores of galaxies blast radiation and ultra-fast winds outward, as illustrated in this artist’s conception. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Ultramassive Black Hole Found in Elliptical Galaxy Holmberg 15A

Aug 5, 2019 by Sergio Prostak

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) have discovered an enormous black hole at the center of Holmberg 15A, a supergiant elliptical galaxy...

Astronomers Create New 3D Map of Milky Way Galaxy

Aug 2, 2019 by News Staff

By measuring the distance from the Sun to thousands of classical Cepheid stars and the associated young stellar populations scattered across the Milky...

This artist’s illustration shows WASP-121b, an alien world that is losing magnesium and iron gas from its atmosphere. Image credit: NASA / ESA / J. Olmsted, STScI.

Metal-Rich Gas Seen Streaming from Hot Jupiter WASP-121b

Aug 1, 2019 by News Staff

WASP-121b is about two times bigger than Jupiter and 1.2 times more massive. Discovered in 2016, the planet is located 881 light-years away in the constellation...

Carnivorous Cambrian Creature Had Rake-Like Claws and Pineapple-Slice-Shaped Mouth

Aug 1, 2019 by News Staff

A new species of marine predator that lived about 506 million years ago (Cambrian period) has been identified from exceptionally well-preserved fossils...

Illustration depicting one interpretation of the exoplanet GJ 357d. Image credit: Chris Smith / NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Three Small Planets Orbit Nearby Red Dwarf Star GJ 357

Aug 1, 2019 by News Staff

Using data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and several ground-based telescopes, astronomers have discovered three small exoplanets...

Researchers Sequence Genome of Komodo Dragon

Jul 30, 2019 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has mapped and analyzed the entire genome of the Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis), the largest extant monitor lizard. The...

An artist’s impression of Jupiter’s moon Europa occulting a distant star. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / DLR / Sci-News.com.

Astronomers Observe Stellar Occultation by Jupiter’s Moon Europa

Jul 29, 2019 by News Staff

In March 2017, Brazilian National Observatory astronomer Bruno Morgado and colleagues took advantage of the beginning of the Jupiter passage through a...

Reconstruction of Homo floresiensis. Image credit: Kinez Riza / Atelier Elisabeth Daynes, Sangiran Museum.

Humans Interbred with Four Extinct Hominin Species, Research Finds

Jul 29, 2019 by News Staff

As anatomically modern Homo sapiens migrated out of Africa and around the rest of the world, they met and interbred with at least four different hominin...

TESS discovered three small exoplanets around nearby stars. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / MIT News.

TESS Successfully Completes First Year of Science Operations

Jul 29, 2019 by News Staff

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanets Survey Satellite (TESS) has discovered over two dozen extrasolar planets and captured data on other astronomical events...

This Hubble image shows the edge-on distorted spiral galaxy NGC 3432. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the visible region of the spectrum with Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). Two 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 / A. Filippenko / R. Jansen.

Hubble Space Telescope Sees NGC 3432: Edge-On and Distorted

Jul 29, 2019 by Natali Anderson

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured a striking new photo of the edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 3432. This Hubble image shows the edge-on distorted...

The 6,500-year-old pottery fragments from the archaeological site of Real Alto in the Chanduy Valley of Ecuador’s Guayas province. Image credit: Kanomata et al, doi: 10.15184/aqy.2019.56.

6,500-Year-Old Pottery Fragments Found in Ecuador

Jul 26, 2019 by Enrico de Lazaro

Shards of incised ceramic vessels dating back to 4640-4460 BCE have been found at the site of Real Alto on the Ecuadorian coast. The 6,500-year-old pottery...

A star known as S0-2 made its closest approach to Sagittarius A*, the a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, in 2018. Image credit: Nicolle Fuller / National Science Foundation.

Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity Aces Relativistic Redshift Test

Jul 26, 2019 by News Staff

In a test of Einstein’s theory of general relativity near the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy, an international group of...

Photogrammetric model of the 500-year-old ship’s stern. Image credit: University of Southampton / Deep Sea Productions / MMT.

Archaeologists Find 500-Year-Old Shipwreck in Baltic Sea

Jul 26, 2019 by News Staff

A team of marine archaeologists has discovered the intact wreck of an ancient ship on the floor of the Baltic Sea. Photogrammetric model of the 500-year-old...

An artist’s impression of a pair of orbiting white dwarfs, ZTF J153932.16+502738.8. Image credit: Caltech / IPAC.

Astronomers Discover Record-Breaking White Dwarf Binary System

Jul 25, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using the KPED (Kitt Peak Electron Multiplying CCD demonstrator) instrument at NSF’s Kitt Peak National Observatory have discovered ZTF J153932.16+502738.8,...

An artist’s rendering of a gas giant in a binary stellar system. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / T. Pyle.

TESS Finds Still-Forming Gas Giant in Binary Star System

Jul 25, 2019 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) have discovered an exoplanet planet larger than Neptune but smaller than Saturn...

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