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Using a combination of the Biblical text and an ancient Egyptian text, Professor Humphreys and Dr. Graeme Waddington were able to refine the dates of the Egyptian pharaohs. Image credit: Pete Linforth.

Annular Solar Eclipse of 1207 BC Helps Date Egyptian Pharaohs

Oct 30, 2017 by News Staff

In a paper published on October 1 in the journal Astronomy & Geophysics, independent scholar and astrophysicist Graeme Waddington and University of...

A/2017 U1 (center). Image credit: Paulo Holvorcem & Michael Schwartz, Tenagra Observatories.

Astronomers Spot Interstellar Object in Our Solar System: A/2017 U1

Oct 29, 2017 by News Staff

For the first time, astronomers think they’ve spotted an asteroid (or perhaps a comet) in the Solar System that came from interstellar space. A/2017...

This illustration shows Kepler-13Ab that circles very close to its host star, Kepler-13A. In the background is the star’s binary companion, Kepler-13B, and the third member of the multiple-star system is the orange dwarf star Kepler-13C. Image credit: NASA / ESA / G. Bacon, STScI.

Hubble Discovers Titanium Dioxide Snow Falling on Hot Jupiter Kepler-13Ab

Oct 28, 2017 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has found a blistering hot-Jupiter exoplanet where it ‘snows’ titanium dioxide, the active ingredient in sunscreen....

Guanches. Image credit: Gran Enciclopedia Virtual de las Islas Canarias.

Ancient DNA Study Confirms North African Origin of Guanches

Oct 27, 2017 by News Staff

The aboriginal inhabitants of the Canary Islands, commonly known as Guanches, were genetically most similar to modern North African Berbers, according...

Artist’s impression of the comet passing a distant star. Image credit: Danielle Futselaar.

Short-Period Exocomets Found around Distant Young Star

Oct 27, 2017 by News Staff

A team of professional and amateur astronomers using data from NASA’s Kepler mission has spotted the dusty tails of six exocomets orbiting KIC 3542116,...

This artist’s painting of the south polar region of Enceladus shows massive jets of water ice being blasted into space. Image credit: Karl Kofoed / NASA.

Saturn Moons Stained by Enceladus’ ‘Ingredients for Life’

Oct 25, 2017 by James Romero

Weathered organic material once dissolved in Enceladus’ subsurface ocean is coating Saturn’s inner moons, explaining surprising variations in their...

Machaeropterus eckelberryi. Image credit: Andy Kratter, Florida Museum of Natural History.

New Bird Species Discovered in Peru: Machaeropterus eckelberryi

Oct 24, 2017 by Natali Anderson

A new species of manakin, called Machaeropterus eckelberryi, has been discovered in the foothills of southwestern Loreto and northern San Martín departments,...

3,250-year-old cuneiform tablets were found inside a clay vessel at the archaeological site of Bassetki in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq. Image credit: Peter Pfälzner, University of Tübingen.

Archaeologists Find Cache of Assyrian Cuneiform Tablets in Iraq

Oct 23, 2017 by News Staff

Excavations led by a University of Tübingen archaeologist at the site of a recently-discovered Bronze Age settlement in the Kurdistan region of Iraq have...

EPIC 228732031b orbits so close to its parent star that a new year comes every 8.9 hours. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / TESS / MIT / Lincoln Laboratory.

Rocky Ultra-Short-Period Exoplanet Found Orbiting Yellow Dwarf

Oct 23, 2017 by Natali Anderson

An international team of astronomers has discovered a rocky exoplanet with an orbital period of 8.9 hours. EPIC 228732031b orbits so close to its parent...

Volcanic activity 3.5 billion years ago released 1019 g of volatiles around the Moon. Image credit: NASA.

Moon Once Had Atmosphere, New Research Says

Oct 20, 2017 by News Staff

About 3.5 billion years ago volcanic activity on Earth’s only permanent natural satellite produced an atmosphere 1.5 times thicker than is currently...

Artist’s impression of a cloud of trapped antihydrogen atoms. Image credit: Chukman So.

CERN’s BASE Experiment Reports 350-Fold Improved Measurement of Antiproton’s Magnetic Moment

Oct 19, 2017 by News Staff

In a paper published this week in the journal Nature, the BASE collaboration at CERN reports the most precise measurement ever made of the magnetic moment...

Powerful Solar Storms Could Electrically Charge Mars’ Moon Phobos

Oct 18, 2017 by News Staff

A new study published in the journal Advances in Space Research suggests that solar storms create a complex electrical environment around Phobos, giving...

This piece of papyrus from the mid-third century BC describes a period of famine in Egypt that occurred when the Nile River failed to flood for several years in a row. It was collected from the Egyptian city of Edfu. Image credit: Department of Papyrology, Institute of Archaeology, University of Warsaw.

Massive Volcanic Eruptions Linked to Revolts in Ptolemaic Egypt

Oct 18, 2017 by News Staff

A Yale University-led study suggests that abrupt shifts in climate caused by massive volcanic eruptions helped to trigger poorly understood revolts —...

Artist’s illustration of two merging neutron stars. Image credit: NSF / LIGO / Sonoma State University / A. Simonnet.

Scientists Detect Gravitational Waves from Colliding Neutron Stars

Oct 17, 2017 by News Staff

The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, Virgo Collaboration, and their partners have directly detected gravitational waves — ripples in space and time...

This artist’s concept depicts a three-planet system. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Three-Planet System Found in Hyades Cluster

Oct 16, 2017 by Sergio Prostak

Astronomers using data from the NASA Kepler spacecraft’s reborn K2 mission have discovered a planetary system containing at least three exoplanets, orbiting...

It’s raining on Titan. Image credit: David A. Hardy, AstroArt / NASA.

Heavy Methane Rainstorms Batter Titan, Researchers Say

Oct 13, 2017 by News Staff

Saturn’s hazy moon has surprisingly extreme rainstorms, according to new research published in the journal Nature Geoscience. It’s raining on Titan....

This artist’s illustration shows a planet-eating star. Image credit: NASA / CXC / M.Weiss.

Astronomers Spot Planet-Eating Star 326 Light-Years Away

Oct 13, 2017 by News Staff

A research team led by Princeton University astrophysicists has discovered a co-moving pair of bright Sun-like stars, HD 240430 and HD 240429, with a significant...

Fifteen moais of Ahu Tongariki. Image credit: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen / CC BY-SA 3.0.

DNA Study Finds No Evidence that Ancient Easter Islanders Intermixed with South Americans

Oct 13, 2017 by News Staff

A new study of ancient DNA appears to rule out the likelihood that inhabitants of Easter Island intermixed with Native South Americans prior to the arrival...

This artist’s concept depicts Haumea and its ring. Image credit: Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia.

Astronomers Discover Ring around Dwarf Planet Haumea

Oct 13, 2017 by Natali Anderson

An international research team led by astronomers from the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia (IAA-CSIC) in Spain has discovered a ring around Haumea,...