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Dwarf planet Sedna. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / R. Hurt, SSC-Caltech.

2015 RR245: New Dwarf Planet Discovered in Solar System’s Kuiper Belt

Jul 12, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers have discovered a new dwarf planet in the Kuiper Belt, a vast ring of icy debris that is encircling the outer rim of our Solar System just...

This image of the Orion Nebula was obtained from multiple exposures using VLT’s HAWK-I infrared camera. This is the deepest view ever of this region and reveals more very faint planetary-mass objects than expected. Image credit: H. Drass et al / ESO.

ESO’s Very Large Telescope Peers Deep into Heart of Orion Nebula

Jul 12, 2016 by News Staff

A group of astronomers has used the High Acuity Wide-field K-band Imager (HAWK-I), an infrared instrument installed on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT)...

This artist’s impression shows a view of the triple-star system HD 131399 (also known as HIP 72940 and 2MASS J14542529-3408342) from close to the Jupiter-like exoplanet orbiting in the system. HD 131399Ab and appears at the lower-left of the picture. Image credit: L. Calcada / ESO.

HD 131399Ab: Astronomers Find Super-Jupiter in Triple-Star System

Jul 7, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have found a young Jupiter-like planet in a triple-star system. This artist’s impression shows...

View of the LHCb detector. Image credit: CERN.

CERN Physicists Observe Three New Tetraquark Particles

Jul 6, 2016 by Enrico de Lazaro

Physicists on CERN’s LHCb collaboration say they’ve observed three new exotic particles – X(4274), X(4500) and X(4700) – and also confirmed the...

Juno arrives at Jupiter. Image credit: NASA / JPL.

NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Enters Orbit around Jupiter

Jul 5, 2016 by Natali Anderson

After almost five years and 1.7 billion miles (2.7 billion km), NASA’s Juno spacecraft successfully entered the orbit around the biggest planetary inhabitant...

This illustration depicts NASA’s Juno spacecraft at Jupiter, with its solar arrays and main antenna pointed toward the distant Sun and Earth. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Juno Ready to Encounter Solar System’s Biggest Planet

Jul 4, 2016 by News Staff

NASA’s Juno spacecraft will arrive at Jupiter, the most massive planet in our Solar System, later today (July 4) to orbit the gas giant for 20 months...

This artist’s rendering shows Juno making one of its close passes over Jupiter. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Scientists Excited as Juno Nears Jupiter

Jul 3, 2016 by News Staff

NASA’s Jupiter-bound Juno spacecraft is on course to swing into orbit around the gas giant on Monday, July 4. This artist’s rendering shows Juno making...

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.

Hydrothermal Activity May Explain Mysterious Bright Spots on Ceres

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...

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...