Tag Archive for 'Kitt Peak National Observatory'

An artist’s conception of the Gliese 251 system, showing Gliese 251c (left), its host star (right), and the previously-discovered planet Gliese 251b (middle). Image credit: Michael Marcheschi / m2design.

Super-Earth Candidate Found in Habitable Zone of Gliese 251

Oct 23, 2025 by Natali Anderson

Gliese 251 is an early red dwarf star and the 74th closest star system to our Sun. An artist’s conception of the Gliese 251 system, showing Gliese 251c...

Two ‘fans’ corresponding to the two main areas DESI has observed, above and below the plane of our Milky Way Galaxy. Image credit: DESI Collaboration / DOE / KPNO / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / R. Proctor.

Dark Energy Might Be Evolving over Time in Unexpected Ways

Mar 19, 2025 by News Staff

New results from the DESI (Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument) Collaboration have revealed signs of a time-varying dark energy. Two ‘fans’ corresponding...

This mosaic shows galaxies hosting intermediate-mass black hole candidates, arranged in increasing order of stellar mass. Image credit: Legacy Surveys / D. Lang, Perimeter Institute / NAOJ / HSC Collaboration / D. de Martin, NSF’s NOIRLab / M. Zamani, NSF’s NOIRLab.

DESI Discovers 2,800 New Black Holes

Feb 19, 2025 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) on NSF’s Nicholas U. Mayall 4-m telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, a program...

This artist’s impression shows the evolution of the Universe beginning with the Big Bang on the left followed by the appearance of the Cosmic Microwave Background. The formation of the first stars ends the cosmic dark ages, followed by the formation of galaxies. Image credit: M. Weiss / Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

New DESI Observations Line Up with What Theory of General Relativity Predicts

Nov 20, 2024 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), a state-of-the-art instrument mounted on NSF’s Nicholas U. Mayall 4-m telescope at...

An artist’s impression of TIC 241249530b. Image credit: NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. da Silva, Spaceengine.

Astronomers Find Young Hot Jupiter on Super-Eccentric, Retrograde Orbit

Jul 17, 2024 by News Staff

Astronomers have discovered an exoplanet five times the mass of Jupiter that makes a very peculiar orbit around its star. An artist’s impression of TIC...

An artist’s impression of HD 26965b and its star. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Spock’s Home Planet Probably Doesn’t Exist, New Study Argues

May 28, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

The radial velocity signal from the exoplanet candidate orbiting the star HD 26965 (40 Eridani A) — host to Mr. Spock’s fictional home planet,...

Optical mosaics of 42 galaxies from the SGA-2020 sorted by increasing angular diameter from the top-left to the bottom-right. Galaxies are chosen randomly from a uniform (flat) probability distribution in angular diameter. The horizontal white bar in the lower-left corner of each panel represents 1 arcminute and the mosaic cutouts range from 3.2 to 13.4 arcminutes. This figure illustrates the tremendous range of types, sizes, colors and surface brightness profiles, internal structure, and environments of the galaxies in the SGA. Image credit: CTIO / NOIRLab / DOE / NSF / AURA / J. Moustakas.

Astronomers Create Detailed Atlas of Over 380,000 Galaxies

Oct 19, 2023 by News Staff

The Siena Galaxy Atlas (SGA) is a compilation of data from three surveys completed between 2014 and 2017 known as the DESI Legacy Surveys, which were carried...

This image of the irregular dwarf galaxy Sextans B, taken by the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-m Telescope, features red-colored star-forming regions near the galaxy’s center; surrounding the galaxy are several bright stars that are located much closer to us in our Milky Way Galaxy, identified by the crisscross patterns created by light interacting with the structure of the telescope, as well as numerous fuzzy-looking background galaxies that appear small because they are much farther away than Sextans B. Image credit: KPNO / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / P. Massey, Lowell Observatory / G. Jacoby / K. Olsen / C. Smith, AURA & NSF / T.A. Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage & NSF’s NOIRLab / M. Zamani, NSF’s NOIRLab / D. de Martin, NSF’s NOIRLab.

Astronomers Snap Detailed Image of Dwarf Galaxy Sextans B

Apr 29, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-m Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory have captured a breathtaking photo of an irregular dwarf galaxy...

This image, taken with the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-m telescope, shows the spiral galaxy Messier 106. Two dwarf galaxies also appear in the image: NGC 4248 in the lower right and UGC 7356 in the lower left. Image credit: KPNO / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / M.T. Patterson, New Mexico State University / T.A. Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage / M. Zamani & D. de Martin.

Astronomers Snap Most Detailed Image Yet of Messier 106

Mar 24, 2021 by News Staff

Obtained using the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-m telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory, the new image of Messier 106 shows not only the galaxy’s spiral...