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This artist’s impression was generated using an image of Betelgeuse from 2019 taken with the SPHERE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope. Image credit: ESO / NASA / ESA / Hubble / M. Kornmesser.

Dust Cloud Caused Betelgeuse’s Great Dimming Event, Astronomers Say

Jun 17, 2021 by News Staff

Betelgeuse, which is located roughly 724 light-years away in the constellation of Orion, is the second-closest red supergiant to Earth. From November 2019...

9,000-Year-Old Obsidian Tools Found at Bottom of Lake Huron

Jun 16, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

The two ancient obsidian flakes recovered from a now submerged archaeological site beneath Lake Huron represent the oldest and farthest east confirmed...

An artist’s impression of Oculudentavis naga, which was between 5 and 8 cm (2-3 inches) long, not including its tail. Image credit: Stephanie Abramowicz / Peretti Museum Foundation / Current Biology.

Oculudentavis is Bizarre Lizard, Not Bird-Like Dinosaur

Jun 15, 2021 by News Staff

In 2020, paleontologists described an ancient species, Oculudentavis khaungraae, based on a tiny skull trapped in a piece of Cretaceous-period amber from...

Dendrohyrax interfluvialis. Image credit: Oates et al., doi: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlab029.

Scientists Discover New Species of Tree Hyrax

Jun 15, 2021 by News Staff

Dendrohyrax interfluvialis lives in the wet and dry forests that lie between the two rivers in coastal regions of southeastern Ghana, southern Togo and...

Meet Satin Berrypecker, New Bird Species from New Guinea

Jun 14, 2021 by Natali Anderson

Ornithologists have discovered a new species of berrypecker (genus Melanocharis) in cloud forest in the Kumawa Mountains of western New Guinea (West Papua...

Artistic representation of Gunggamarandu maunala. Image credit: Eleanor Pease.

New Ancient Crocodile Species Identified in Australia

Jun 14, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of large-sized tomistomine crocodylian has been identified from a large, incomplete skull found more than a century ago in Queensland,...

Two Giant Exoplanets Found around Sun-Like Star

Jun 11, 2021 by News Staff

Professional astronomers and citizen scientists from the NASA-funded Planet Hunters TESS project have discovered a two-planet system around the bright...

An artist’s impression of the VVV-WIT-08 binary system. Image credit: Amanda Smith, University of Cambridge.

Giant ‘Blinking’ Star Spotted in Milky Way’s Central Region

Jun 11, 2021 by News Staff

A giant star called VVV-WIT-08 exhibited a smooth, eclipse-like drop in brightness to a depth of 97% in 2012; minimum brightness occurred in April 2012...

An artist’s rendering of the Neptune-like exoplanet TOI-1231b. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Neptune-Like Exoplanet Found Circling Nearby Red Dwarf

Jun 10, 2021 by Sergio Prostak

Astronomers using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) have discovered a temperate, Neptune-sized planet orbiting the M-dwarf star TOI-1231. An...

The Yunnan woolly flying squirrel (Eupetaurus nivamons). Image credit: Quan Li.

Two New Species of Woolly Flying Squirrels Discovered

Jun 10, 2021 by Sergio Prostak

An international team of zoologists from Australia and China has discovered two new cryptic species in the genus Eupetaurus — which previously included...

The LHCb Collaboration measured the tiny mass difference between the D1 and D2 mesons, which are a manifestation of the quantum superposition of the D0 particle and its antiparticle. This mass difference controls the speed of the D0 oscillation into its antiparticle and back. Image credit: CERN.

CERN Physicists Observe Nonzero Mass Difference between Charm Meson and Its Antiparticle

Jun 9, 2021 by News Staff

Physicists from the LHCb Collaboration at CERN have proved that a subatomic particle called the charm meson can switch into its antiparticle and back again....

This image of Ganymede was obtained by the JunoCam imager aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft during its June 7, 2021, flyby of the icy moon. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS.

NASA’s Juno Orbiter Completes Close Flyby of Ganymede

Jun 9, 2021 by News Staff

Juno’s June 7, 2021 flyby of Ganymede is the closest a spacecraft has come to Jupiter’s largest moon since NASA’s Galileo spacecraft made its close...

A bdelloid rotifer. Image credit: Michael Plewka.

Frozen Microscopic Animals Brought Back to Life after 24,000 Years

Jun 9, 2021 by News Staff

Microscopic multicellular animals called bdelloid rotifers are known for their ability to survive extremely low temperatures. They had been reported to...

Life reconstruction of Australotitan cooperensis. Image credit: Vladislav Konstantinov / Scott Hocknull.

New Titanosaur Species Uncovered in Australia

Jun 8, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

The newly-discovered species of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur, named Australotitan cooperensis, is the largest species of dinosaur ever found in Australia. Life...

New species of Cisticola warblers from the Kilombero floodplain of Tanzania: at the top, Kilombero cisticola; at the bottom white-tailed cisticola; for both species, the bird in the front is painted after the type specimen while the bird behind is based on photos of birds in more worn plumages. Image credit: Jon Fjeldså.

Two New Bird Species Identified in Tanzania

Jun 7, 2021 by Natali Anderson

An international team of ornithologists has described and named two new species of the warbler genus Cisticola using museum specimens collected half a...

Astronomers Detect High-Energy Gamma Rays from Afterglow of Long Gamma-Ray Burst

Jun 4, 2021 by News Staff

Long gamma-ray bursts are bright flashes of extragalactic gamma rays produced during the collapse of a massive star. A gamma-ray burst itself lasts only...

This artist’s concept shows NASA’s VERITAS spacecraft using its radar to produce high-resolution maps of Venus’ topographic and geologic features. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

NASA Selects Two New Missions to Venus

Jun 3, 2021 by News Staff

NASA has selected two new Discovery Program missions — the Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging (DAVINCI+)...

This image shows Valparaiso 1, a young open cluster located 7,500 light-years away in the constellation of Scutum. Image credit: Gabriel Pérez Díaz, SMM & IAC.

New Open Cluster Discovered: Valparaiso 1

Jun 3, 2021 by Natali Anderson

Using astrometric, photometric and optical spectroscopy data from ESA’s Gaia mission and the 2MASS survey, astronomers have discovered a large, populous,...

The Basenji dog (Canis lupus familiaris).

Researchers Sequence Genome of Basenji Dog

Jun 2, 2021 by News Staff

An international team of scientists has sequenced and assembled the genome of the Basenji dog (Canis lupus familiaris), an ancient dog breed of central...