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Hydrothermal Activity May Explain Mysterious Bright Spots on Ceres

Occator crater (center) appears to be among the youngest features on Ceres. Dawn mission scientists estimate its age to be about 78 million years old. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / MPS / DLR / IDA.
Jul 1, 2016 by News Staff

Anomalously bright areas on the dwarf planet Ceres have the highest concentration of sodium carbonate ever seen outside our planet, says a new study published in the journal Nature. Ceres’ bright spots are seen up close in this image from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft. The probe took this image on March 26, 2016, from its low-altitude mapping orbit, at a distance of about 240 miles (385 km) above the surface. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA /...

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This image combines an image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in the optical and observations of the Jovian aurora in the ultraviolet. Image credit: NASA / ESA.

Hubble Observes Spectacular Auroras on Jupiter

Jun 30, 2016 by Natali Anderson

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured stunning new ultraviolet images of the auroral lights in the atmosphere of the Solar System’s largest...

Kankuamo marquezi, male. Image credit: Dirk Weinmann.

Newly-Discovered Species of Tarantula Named after Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Jun 30, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

A relatively large species of tarantula discovered in an isolated mountain range in Colombia has been named after the famed Colombian novelist and 1982...

The view towards the east from the Carregal do Sal megalithic cluster, at dawn at the end of April around 4,000 BC, as reconstructed using a Digital Elevation Model and Stellarium. Aldebaran, the last star to rise before the Sun, is rising directly above Serra da Estrela, the ‘mountain range of the star.’ Image credit: Fabio Silva.

Iberian Megalithic Tombs: 6,000-Year-Old Lensless Telescopes?

Jun 30, 2016 by News Staff

A team of astronomers from the UK is exploring what might be described as the first astronomical observing tool, potentially used by humans around 4,000...

Olduvai Gorge, Great Rift Valley, Tanzania. Image credit: Noel Feans / CC BY 2.0.

Researchers Find Giant Helium Gas Field in Tanzania

Jun 28, 2016 by Natali Anderson

A team of researchers from Durham University, the University of Oxford, and the exploration company Helium One has discovered a world-class helium gas...

This false-color image of Jupiter was created by selecting and combining the best images obtained from many short VISIR exposures at a wavelength of 5 micrometers. Image credit: L. Fletcher / ESO.

Astronomers Release New Infrared Images, High-Resolution Maps of Jupiter

Jun 28, 2016 by News Staff

Amazing new infrared images and high-resolution maps of Jupiter give a glowing view of Juno’s target, several days ahead of the NASA mission’s arrival...

A 25 million-year-old fossilized termite nest with the remains of a ‘fungus garden’ preserved inside. Image credit: H. Hilbert-Worf / James Cook University.

Paleontologists Discover Earliest Evidence of Insect Agriculture

Jun 24, 2016 by Natali Anderson

An international team of paleontologists has discovered the oldest known examples of ‘fungus gardens’ within 25 million-year-old fossilized termite...

This New Horizons image shows Pluto’s small moon Nix. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory / Southwest Research Institute.

Pluto’s Small Moon Nix is Covered in Relatively Pure Water Ice

Jun 23, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

The latest data from NASA’s New Horizons probe reveal a water-ice signature on the surface of Nix, one of Pluto’s five known moons. This New Horizons...

Warthogs (Phacochoerus africanus) in South Africa. Image credit: Vince Smith / CC BY 2.0.

Warthogs, Wild Boars May Have Internal Magnetic Compass

Jun 22, 2016 by Natali Anderson

Wild boars (Sus scrofa) and warthogs (Phacochoerus africanus) have an internal magnetic compass that helps them orient themselves as they forage for food...

Giant exoplanet K2-33b. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / R. Hurt.

Fully-Formed Giant Exoplanet Found Orbiting 5-10-Million-Year-Old Star

Jun 21, 2016 by Natali Anderson

An international team of astronomers has spotted a Neptune-sized exoplanet orbiting a very young star approximately 500 light-years from our own Solar...

Astronomers Find Most Distant Oxygen in Universe

Jun 17, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have found the most distant oxygen yet seen in the Universe, in a galaxy 13.1...

This artist’s impression shows a hot-Jupiter orbiting close to one of the stars in the star cluster Messier 67. Astronomers have found far more planets like this in the cluster than expected. This surprise result was obtained using a number of telescopes and instruments, among them the HARPS spectrograph at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. Image credit: L. Calcada / ESO.

Unexpected Excess of Hot-Jupiter Exoplanets in Messier 67

Jun 17, 2016 by News Staff

Astronomers have found that there are far more so-called hot-Jupiter planets – gas giants that orbit very close to their parent stars – than...

Physicists Identify Second Gravitational-Wave Event

Jun 16, 2016 by Sergio Prostak

An international team of scientists has identified a second gravitational wave event in the data from the twin detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave...

Astronomers applaud the first detection of a chiral molecule, propylene oxide, in interstellar space. On Earth, propylene oxide is a common compound used in making polyurethane plastics. Image credit: B. Saxton / NRAO / AUI / NSF / N.E. Kassim, Naval Research Laboratory / Sloan Digital Sky Survey.

Chiral Molecule Detected in Interstellar Cloud Sagittarius B2

Jun 15, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using highly sensitive radio telescopes have detected, for the first time, a chiral molecule in interstellar space. Astronomers applaud the...

Reconstruction of Wahlisaurus massarae. Image credit: James McKay.

Wahlisaurus massarae: Forgotten Fossil is New Species of Ancient Dolphin-Like Reptile

Jun 14, 2016 by News Staff

A new species of ichthyosaur that lived about 200 million years ago has been identified from a fossil found in a quarry in Nottinghamshire, England. Reconstruction...

Long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis aurea) uses a stone. Image credit: University of Oxford.

Wild Macaques in Thailand Have Entered Stone Age

Jun 13, 2016 by News Staff

Long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis aurea) on Piak Nam Yai, one of Thailand’s coastal islands, have been using stone tools for several decades...

Location of Cape Espenberg. Image credit: Rand McNally.

Asian Metals were Traded in Alaska Centuries before Sustained Contact with Europeans

Jun 10, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Two artifacts found at Cape Espenberg on the northern coast of the Seward Peninsula in Alaska are the first evidence that Asian metal alloys reached North...

Opaque Clouds on hot-Jupiters May Hide Atmospheric Water, Scientists Say

Jun 10, 2016 by News Staff

Hot, Jupiter-sized extrasolar planets often have cloud or haze layers in their atmospheres, and this may prevent astronomers from detecting atmospheric...

Reconstruction of Homo floresiensis. Image credit: Kinez Riza / Atelier Elisabeth Daynes, Sangiran Museum.

Scientists Find 700,000-Year-Old Remains of Proto-Homo floresiensis

Jun 9, 2016 by News Staff

New hominin fossils from the Indonesian island of Flores shed light on the origin of the mysterious ‘hobbit’ species, Homo floresiensis. Hominin remains...

Abell 2597 BCG. Image credit: NRAO / AUI / NSF / Dana Berry / SkyWorks / ALMA / ESO / NAOJ.

Astronomers Observe Feeding Habits of Active Black Hole

Jun 8, 2016 by News Staff

Astronomers have witnessed a cosmic weather event that has never been seen before — a cluster of giant gas clouds raining in on the supermassive...

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