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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.

Dark Matter May Have Existed before Big Bang, Theoretical Physicist Says

Aug 9, 2019 by News Staff

Dark matter, the mysterious substance that makes up roughly a quarter of the Universe, may have its origin in pre-Big-Bang times, according to a new paper...

This new Hubble image of Jupiter, taken on June 27, 2019, reveals the giant planet’s Great Red Spot, and a more intense color palette in the clouds swirling in Jupiter's turbulent atmosphere than seen in previous years. The colors, and their changes, provide important clues to ongoing processes in Jupiter’s atmosphere. The bands are created by differences in the thickness and height of the ammonia ice clouds. The colorful bands, which flow in opposite directions at various latitudes, result from different atmospheric pressures. Lighter bands rise higher and have thicker clouds than the darker bands. Image credit: NASA / ESA / A. Simon, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / M.H. Wong, University of California, Berkeley.

Hubble Snaps Super-Sharp Image of Jupiter

Aug 9, 2019 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope obtained a detailed image of Jupiter on June 27, 2019, when the gas giant was approximately 400 million miles (644...

Goumas et al found that human gaze direction significantly affected gulls’ latency to approach the food: gulls took less time to approach when a human was facing away versus looking directly at them. Image credit: Circe Denyer.

Staring at Seagulls Makes Them Less Likely to Snatch Your Food

Aug 8, 2019 by News Staff

A team of researchers from the University of Exeter, UK, put a bag of chips on the ground and tested how long it took herring gulls (Larus argentatus)...

Earth’s magnetic field connects the North Pole (orange lines) with the South Pole (blue lines) in this NASA-created image. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Most Recent Reversal of Earth’s Magnetic Field Lasted 22,000 Years

Aug 8, 2019 by News Staff

Earth’s magnetic field is produced in the planet’s liquid iron outer core as it spins around the solid inner core, and protects the surface from harmful...

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.

ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope Observes Seagull Nebula

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...

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...