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This artist’s impression shows the first interstellar asteroid -- 1I/2017 U1 (’Oumuamua). Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Interstellar Asteroid Oumuamua is Dark Red, Highly-Elongated Rocky or Metallic Object, Astronomers Say

Nov 21, 2017 by News Staff

In October 2017, astronomers were surprised by an asteroid that came racing into our Solar System from interstellar space. Now, they have determined that...

This artist’s impression shows the super-Earth 55 Cancri e orbiting the Sun-like star 55 Cancri A. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Super-Earth 55 Cancri e Could Have Thick, Earth-Like Atmosphere

Nov 20, 2017 by News Staff

A hot, rocky exoplanet called 55 Cancri e likely has an atmosphere thicker than Earth’s, with ingredients that could be similar to those of Earth’s...

HAWC map for the region around Geminga (about 815 light-years away in the constellation Gemini) and PSR B0656+14 (about 940 light-years away). Image credit: John Pretz.

Nearby Pulsars Shed Light on Origin of Excess Antimatter

Nov 17, 2017 by News Staff

Astrophysicists using the High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Gamma-Ray Observatory in Mexico have detected the extended emission of high-energy gamma...

This illustration shows a stream of material from a star as it is being devoured by a supermassive black hole in a tidal disruption flare. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

New Type of Highly Energetic Cosmic Explosion Discovered

Nov 16, 2017 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers have spotted a new type of extremely energetic cosmic explosion they think originates from a very massive star or the environment of a supermassive...

The 110-step trackway represents a new ichnospecies, Brontopodus plagnensis, and extends over 508 feet -- a world record for sauropods, which were the largest of the dinosaurs. Image credit: P. Dumas.

World’s Longest Sauropod Trackway Found in France

Nov 16, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

The trackway of a plant-eating sauropod dinosaur has been excavated in the Jura Mountains, France. This 508-foot (155 m) line of footsteps is the longest...

This artist’s impression shows Ross 128b, with its red dwarf parent star in the background. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Ross 128b: Astronomers Find Exo-Earth Orbiting Nearby Red Dwarf

Nov 15, 2017 by Natali Anderson

A rocky exoplanet roughly the same size as Earth has been discovered orbiting a nearby low-mass star, thanks to new data gathered by ESO’s High Accuracy...

Huge Trove of Medieval Gold and Silver Coins Unearthed in France

Nov 15, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

A hoard of 21 Islamic gold dinars, 2,200 silver coins, and gold artifacts dating to the 12th century CE has been unearthed by archaeologists digging at...

Typophyllum spurioculis. Image credit: Andrew Baker.

New Species of Leaf-Mimicking Insect Discovered in South America

Nov 14, 2017 by News Staff

A team of entomologists from the University of Toronto Mississauga, Canada, and the University of Lincoln’s Joseph Banks Laboratories, UK, has discovered...

Giblin River stromatolites. Image credit: Proemse et al, doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-15507-1.

Scientists Find Ancient Life Form Thriving in Tasmania

Nov 14, 2017 by News Staff

Tasmanian scientists have found living stromatolites (oldest known life form) in the Giblin River catchment of the UNESCO-listed Tasmanian Wilderness World...

Early Neolithic jar, circa 6000-5000 BC, from Khramis Didi-Gora in the Republic of Georgia. Note the probable grape cluster motives encircling the mouth of the vessel, and the small base, which would have been inadequate for a free-standing vessel. The latter feature suggests that the jar was once partly or wholly buried underground, like modern qvevris (Georgian, ‘large jars’). This specimen is nearly a meter (3.3 feet) tall and a meter (3.3 feet) broad, with a volume exceeding 80 gallons. Image credit: Mindia Jalabadze / National Museum of Georgia.

Ancient Georgian Pottery Reveals World’s Oldest Wine

Nov 14, 2017 by News Staff

8,000-year-old pottery fragments from two sites in the Republic of Georgia, South Caucasus, have revealed the earliest biomolecular archaeological and...

Artist’s impression of two starburst (star-forming) galaxies beginning to merge in the early Universe. Image credit: NRAO / AUI / NSF.

ALMA Spots Pair of Extremely Rare Hyper-Luminous Starburst Galaxies

Nov 13, 2017 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have discovered a pair of astoundingly bright and spectacularly massive galaxies...

Maurolicus muelleri (top) and Maurolicus mucronatus (bottom). Image credit: Fanny de Busserolles, University of Queensland.

Marine Biologists Find New Type of Eye Cell in Deep-Sea Fish

Nov 13, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has found a new photoreceptor type in the eyes of deep-sea pearlsides, which have an unusual visual system adapted...

Juno Beams Back Stunning New Photos of Jupiter

Nov 10, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA’s Juno orbiter captured a series of beautiful images during its ninth flyby of Jupiter on October 24, 2017. This image of Jupiter’s southern hemisphere...

SN 2014J. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Y. Yang, Texas A&M University & Weizmann Institute of Science.

Hubble Captures Distant Supernova’s Light Echoes

Nov 10, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has observed an extremely rare cosmic phenomenon, called a ‘light echo,’ in Messier 82, a star-forming galaxy located...

Artist’s impression of a Type II supernova. Image credit: NASA / ESA / G. Bacon, STSci.

Supernova Discovery Challenges Theories of How Certain Stars End Their Lives

Nov 9, 2017 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers led by Las Cumbres Observatory has found a remarkable object in a nearby galaxy: a star that exploded multiple times...

Artist’s impression of a lagoon at dusk with Durlstodon ensomi (left foreground), Durlstotherium newmani (right and center foreground) and the theropod Nuthetes holding a captured Durlstotherium newmani (center middle distance). Image credit: Mark Witton.

Paleontologists Discover Two Mammals from Early Cretaceous Epoch

Nov 8, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

A group of paleontologists from the University of Portsmouth has discovered two new species of mammals that lived 145 million years ago in what is now...

The Pylos Combat Agate. Image credit: University of Cincinnati.

Archaeologists Find Unique Minoan Sealstone in Greece

Nov 7, 2017 by News Staff

An international group of archaeologists led by the University of Cincinnati has found a Minoan sealstone in the treasure-laden tomb of a Bronze Age Greek...

This artist’s impression shows how the newly-discovered dust belts around Proxima Centauri may look. This sketch is not to scale -- to make Proxima b clearly visible it has been shown further from the star and larger than it is in reality. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Astronomers Find Two Dust Belts around Proxima Centauri

Nov 5, 2017 by News Staff

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have detected dust belts around Proxima Centauri, the star closest to our Sun....

Reconstruction of the head of an adult female Decennatherium rex. Image credit: Oscar Sanisidro / Anja Cocoparisienne / Sci-News.com.

Ancient Giraffe Relative Once Roamed Iberian Peninsula

Nov 3, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new large species of giraffid being named Decennatherium rex has been discovered by Dr. Maria Rios from the National Museum of Natural History of Spain...