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Unique Rocky Comet from Oort Cloud May Provide Clues about Origin of Solar System

Artist’s impression of C/2014 S3 (PanSTARRS). The comet’s current long orbital period (approximately 860 years) suggests that its source is in the Oort Cloud -- a large region surrounding the Sun like a giant, thick soap bubble -- and it was nudged comparatively recently into an orbit that brings it closer to the Sun. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.
Apr 29, 2016 by News Staff

Observations of a tailless comet called C/2014 S3 (PanSTARRS), made with ESO’s Very Large Telescope and the Canada France Hawaii Telescope, show that it is the first object to be discovered on a long-period cometary orbit that has the characteristics of a pristine inner Solar System asteroid. Artist’s impression of C/2014 S3 (PanSTARRS). The comet’s current long orbital period (approximately 860 years) suggests that its source is in the Oort...

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Cassini caught the sunlight glinting off Titan's seas and lakes filled with liquid methane or ethane. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona / University of Idaho.

NASA’s Cassini Orbiter Explores Titan’s Ligeia Mare

Apr 28, 2016 by News Staff

Ligeia Mare, one of the largest seas on Saturn’s moon Titan, consists of pure methane and likely has a seabed covered by a sludge of organic-rich material,...

This artist’s concept shows Makemake and its moon, MK 2. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Alex Parker, Southwest Research Institute.

MK 2: Astronomers Discover Tiny Moon Orbiting Makemake

Apr 27, 2016 by News Staff

Using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered a tiny, dark moon orbiting the dwarf planet Makemake, one of several dwarf planets...

Physicists discovered that water in the mineral beryl displays some unique and unexpected characteristics. Image credit: Jeff Scovil.

Physicists Discover New State of Water Molecule

Apr 26, 2016 by News Staff

Using computational modeling and neutron scattering, physicists have discovered a novel state of water molecule. Physicists discovered that water in the...

Scientific biofluorescent imaging camera and lighting system developed to obtain 4 K imagery shown underwater in Scripps Canyon, San Diego, CA. Image credit: Kyle McBurnie.

Biofluorescent Catsharks Increase Light Contrast Deep Underwater, Study Reveals

Apr 26, 2016 by News Staff

Marine scientists have found that biofluorescent catsharks, such as the swell shark from the eastern Pacific and the chain catshark from the western Atlantic,...

This Hubble image, released to celebrate its 26th year in orbit, shows the Bubble Nebula, an emission nebula located 7,100 light-years away. This image allows us to fully appreciate the almost perfectly symmetrical shell which gives the nebula its name. The bright star visible just to the left of center is the Wolf-Rayet star SAO 20575. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team.

Hubble Celebrates 26th Anniversary with Incredible Image of Bubble Nebula

Apr 22, 2016 by Natali Anderson

In celebration of the 26th anniversary of the launch of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have captured an amazing image of the Bubble Nebula...

Cheesmaking, Tacuinum Sanitatis (XIV century).

Analysis of Pottery Reveals First Cheesemaking in Swiss Alps in the First Millennium BC

Apr 21, 2016 by News Staff

The first evidence that humans in the Swiss Alps made cheese in the 1st millennium BC is described in research by an international team of archeologists,...

Ashkenazi Jews of 19th century Eastern Europe portrayed in Jews Praying in the Synagogue on Yom Kippur, by Maurycy Gottlieb, 1878 (from Jewish Art, p. 199).

Yiddish Language was Invented by Slavo-Iranian Jewish Merchants, Scientists Say

Apr 19, 2016 by News Staff

A new tool called the Geographic Population Structure (GPS), which converts DNA data into its ancestral coordinates, has pinpointed origin of Yiddish speakers,...

Torvosaurus gurneyi. Image credit: © Sergey Krasovskiy.

Dinosaurs Were in Long-Term Evolutionary Decline before Chicxulub Impact

Apr 19, 2016 by News Staff

According to a new research published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and which has been led by University of Reading scientists...

Cassini Samples, Analyzes Interstellar Dust at Saturn

Apr 15, 2016 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Cassini spacecraft has detected the faint but distinct signature of dust coming from outside our Solar System, from the Local Interstellar...

This wide-field view of the sky around Alpha Centauri was created from photographic images forming part of the Digitized Sky Survey 2. Image credit: ESO / Digitized Sky Survey 2 / Davide De Martin.

Breakthrough Starshot: Stephen Hawking, Yuri Milner Announce Plan to Reach Alpha Centauri

Apr 14, 2016 by Natali Anderson

Theoretical physicist Prof. Stephen Hawking and science philanthropist Yuri Milner unveiled this week a new initiative, called Breakthrough Starshot, to...

This image shows the Fornax Galaxy Cluster. The brightest galaxies are labeled. Image credit: ESO / Aniello Grado / Luca Limatola.

ESO’s VST Telescope Takes Stunning Image of Fornax Galaxy Cluster

Apr 13, 2016 by News Staff

ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope (VST) at Paranal Observatory in Chile has taken the best ever photo of a concentration of galaxies known as the Fornax Cluster. This...

Small fragments of raw glass as they were found at the site. Image credit: Assaf Peretz / Israel Antiquities Authority.

Israeli Archaeologists Uncover Roman Period Glass Factory

Apr 13, 2016 by News Staff

Archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) have uncovered the remains of 1,600-year-old glass kilns (Late Roman period) in the Jezreel...

Marine Scientists Capture Rare Video of Swarming Red Crabs

Apr 12, 2016 by News Staff

A team of marine scientists has captured a rare video of thousands of pelagic red crabs (Pleuroncodes planipes) swarming in hypoxic (low-oxygen) waters...

In this artist’s conception a hot terrestrial exoplanet circles its host star. Image credit: Dana Berry.

Hot Super-Earths: Astronomers Identify New Class of Exoplanet

Apr 11, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using data from NASA’s Kepler mission have identified a new type of exoplanet called ‘hot super-Earths.’ In this artist’s conception...

Reconstruction of a Neanderthal. Image credit: Neanderthal Museum.

Genetic Scientists Complete First Analysis of Neanderthal Y Chromosome

Apr 8, 2016 by Natali Anderson

Neanderthal Y-chromosome genes disappeared from the genome of modern humans long ago, suggests a new study published this week in the American Journal...

Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Image credit: Janice Haney Carr / Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Researchers Find New Way to Inhibit Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Apr 7, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Scientists from the United States and Australia claim they have found a new way to inhibit the growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a bacterium that is...

Asilisaurus kongwe: in this artist’s rendering, the reptile is shown as it would walk and move about; the stripes are artistic license, although the animal’s proto-feathers are likely. Image credit: Andrey Atuchin.

Triassic Fossils Indicate How Dinosaurs Grew from Hatchlings to Adults

Apr 6, 2016 by News Staff

A team of paleontologists has found that fossilized leg bones of Asilisaurus kongwe — a dinosaur cousin that lived during the Middle Triassic epoch...

Scientists inserted a small molecule named coralyne into the DNA and were able to create a single-molecule diode, which can be used as an active element in future nanoscale circuits. Image credit: University of Georgia / Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

Researchers Create World’s Smallest Diode

Apr 5, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A single-molecule diode, the world’s smallest, has been created by a team of researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and the University of...

Aquilonifer spinosus: Silurian Arthropod Kept Its Young on Tether

Apr 5, 2016 by News Staff

An international team of paleontologists has unearthed a fossilized arthropod that carried its young in pouches tethered to the parent’s body, like a...

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