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This HI4PI map was produced using data from the 100-m Max-Planck radio telescope in Effelsberg, Germany and the 64-m CSIRO radio telescope in Parkes, Australia. The image colors reflect gas at differing velocities. The plane of the Milky Way Galaxy runs horizontally across the middle of the image. The Magellanic Clouds can be seen at the lower right. Image credit: Benjamin Winkel / HI4PI Collaboration.

Astronomers Create Detailed Hydrogen Map of Milky Way Galaxy

Oct 20, 2016 by News Staff

Using data from the 64-m CSIRO radio telescope in Australia and the 100-m Max-Planck radio telescope in Germany, an international team of astronomers has...

ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter at Mars. Image credit: D. Ducros / ESA.

ExoMars TGO Successfully Enters Mars Orbit, Schiaparelli Situation under Assessment

Oct 19, 2016 by News Staff

ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) has entered an elliptical orbit around Mars, while contact has not yet been confirmed with the Schiaparelli lander. ESA’s...

Artist’s impression depicting the separation of the Schiaparelli module from the Trace Gas Orbiter, and heading for Mars. Image credit: D. Ducros / ESA.

ExoMars 2016 Arrival and Landing: Watch Live

Oct 19, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Artist’s impression depicting the separation of the Schiaparelli module from the Trace Gas Orbiter, and heading for Mars. Image credit: D. Ducros / ESA. ESA’s...

MAVEN obtained this image of rapid cloud formation on Mars in July 2016. Image credit: NASA / MAVEN / University of Colorado.

MAVEN Ultraviolet Images Reveal Hidden Secrets of Mars

Oct 18, 2016 by News Staff

New images from NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft show the ultraviolet glow from the Red Planet’s atmosphere in detail,...

Higgs Bison: Mysterious Hybrid of Bison and Cattle Hidden in Ice Age Cave Art

Oct 18, 2016 by News Staff

A study led by University of Adelaide researcher Julien Soubrier has revealed that prehistoric European cave artists recorded a previously unknown hybrid...

Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko likely spent millions of years in the scattering disk, a distant portion of the Kuiper belt. Image credit: Mattia Galiazzo / Paul Wiegert.

Researchers Predict Possible Birthplace of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Oct 17, 2016 by News Staff

Using statistical analysis and computing, a duo of researchers at Western University in Canada has charted a path that likely pinpoints the origins of...

Artist’s impression visualizing the ExoMars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter, with its thrusters firing, beginning its entry into Mars orbit on October 19, 2016. Image credit: ESA / ATG Medialab.

ExoMars-2016 Mission Approaches Red Planet

Oct 16, 2016 by News Staff

Artist’s impression visualizing the ExoMars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter, with its thrusters firing, beginning its entry into Mars orbit on October 19, 2016....

Aptenoperissus burmanicus lived at the base of trees while dinosaurs wondered around above it, and is the only known specimen in a newly-created family, Aptenoperissidae. Scale bar - 1.0 mm. Image credit: George Poinar, Jr. / Oregon State University.

Bizarre Wingless Wasp Found Encased in 100-Million-Year-Old Burmese Amber

Oct 14, 2016 by News Staff

An enigmatic wingless parasitic wasp has been found preserved in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber, a new study says. Aptenoperissus burmanicus lived at the...

This composite image shows a beautiful new look at the compact group of galaxies known as Stephan’s Quintet. Image credit: X-ray – NASA / CXC / CfA / E. O’Sullivan; optical - Canada-France-Hawaii-Telescope / Coelum.

Universe Contains at least Two Trillion Galaxies, Astronomers Say

Oct 13, 2016 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers led by University of Nottingham scientist Christopher Conselice has performed an accurate census of the number of...

Vegavis iaai. Image credit: Nicole Fuller / Sayo Art / University of Texas at Austin.

Vegavis iaai: Dinosaurs Likely Did Not Sing, Vocal Organ of Mesozoic Bird Suggests

Oct 13, 2016 by News Staff

The oldest known syrinx (vocal organ) of a bird has been found, preserved in three dimensions in a 66-million-year-old specimen from Antarctica, according...

Proxima Centauri. Image credit: Hubble / ESA / NASA.

Astronomers Find Evidence for 7-Year Stellar Cycle in Proxima Centauri

Oct 12, 2016 by Natali Anderson

The Sun’s nearest stellar neighbor, Proxima Centauri, has a regular cycle of starspots, according to a team of astronomers from the Harvard-Smithsonian...

The main idea behind the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative is to send light-propelled nanocrafts to the Alpha Centauri system within the next generation. Image credit: Breakthrough Initiatives.

New Light Sail Proposed to Ride a Laser Beam to the Stars

Oct 10, 2016 by James Romero

A laser beam-riding sail in the shape of a giant trapped ping pong ball could carry the first manmade object across interstellar space towards the recently-discovered...

Humans aren’t the only ones who can tell when someone’s beliefs don’t match reality. Image credit: Jochemy.

Study: Great Apes Understand False Beliefs

Oct 10, 2016 by News Staff

According to a new study published in the journal Science, three different species of great apes — chimpanzee, bonobo, and orangutan — are...

This Hubble image shows the lenticular galaxy GJ1417+52. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Astronomers Find Wandering Black Hole in Galaxy 4.5 Billion Light-Years Away

Oct 7, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A rogue black hole has been found in the outer regions of the lenticular galaxy SDSS J141711.07+522540.8 (GJ1417+52 for short). Evidence suggests this...

Philippine tarsiers (Tarsius syrichta). Image credit: JT Lim Majuro / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Scientists Sequence Tarsier Genome

Oct 6, 2016 by News Staff

An international team of researchers from the United States and Germany today reports having sequenced and annotated the genome of the Philippine tarsier....

Planets form from epic collisions between asteroids and even bigger bodies, called protoplanets. Sometimes the colliding bodies are ground to dust, and sometimes they stick together to ultimately form larger, mature planets. This artist’s conception shows one such smash-up. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Mystery of KIC 8462852 Deepens

Oct 5, 2016 by News Staff

Planets form from epic collisions between asteroids and even bigger bodies, called protoplanets. Sometimes the colliding bodies are ground to dust, and...

This image of Messier 78 was captured using the VISTA telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory. In the image, Messier 78 is the bluish haze in the center, the other reflection nebula towards the right goes by the name of NGC 2071. Image credit: ESO.

ESO’s VISTA Telescope Sees Hidden Stars in Messier 78

Oct 5, 2016 by News Staff

This detailed view of the reflection nebula Messier 78 was taken with the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) at ESO’s Paranal...

Peristylium (open courtyard) of the House of Caecilius Iucundus. Image credit: Emanuel Demetrescu et al.

Archaeologists Virtually Recreate House of Caecilius Iucundus in Pompeii

Oct 4, 2016 by News Staff

An international team of researchers led by Lund University archaeologists has virtually reconstructed a large house of the Pompeian banker Lucius Caecilius...

This image shows an artist concept of NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

NASA’s MAVEN Probe Celebrates One Martian Year in Orbit around the Red Planet

Oct 4, 2016 by News Staff

NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft, sent to Mars to explore its upper atmosphere, ionosphere and interactions with the...