Tag Archive for 'NASA'

Artist’s impression of the comet passing a distant star. Image credit: Danielle Futselaar.

Short-Period Exocomets Found around Distant Young Star

Oct 27, 2017 by News Staff

A team of professional and amateur astronomers using data from NASA’s Kepler mission has spotted the dusty tails of six exocomets orbiting KIC 3542116,...

This Hubble image shows the massive galaxy cluster Abell S1063. Image credit: NASA / ESA / J. Lotz, STScI.

Hubble Detects Wobbling Galaxies within Massive Galaxy Clusters

Oct 26, 2017 by News Staff

Galaxy clusters are among the most massive structures in the Universe. Every galaxy cluster contains a galaxy that is brighter than the other members,...

This artist’s painting of the south polar region of Enceladus shows massive jets of water ice being blasted into space. Image credit: Karl Kofoed / NASA.

Saturn Moons Stained by Enceladus’ ‘Ingredients for Life’

Oct 25, 2017 by James Romero

Weathered organic material once dissolved in Enceladus’ subsurface ocean is coating Saturn’s inner moons, explaining surprising variations in their...

Amalthea casts a shadow on Jupiter in this image captured by NASA’s Juno spacecraft; the elongated shape of the shadow is a result of both the location of Amalthea with relation to Jupiter in this image as well as the irregular shape of the small moon itself. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstaedt.

Amalthea Casts Shadow on Jupiter

Oct 23, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

On September 1, 2017, NASA’s Juno spacecraft witnessed a remarkable cosmic event — a small Jovian moon called Amalthea blocked the sunlight and...

Dawn data show a region around Ceres’ Ernutet crater where organic concentrations have been discovered; the color coding shows the surface concentration of organics, as inferred from the visible and near infrared spectrometer; the inset shows a higher resolution enhanced color image of the crater acquired by Dawn’s framing camera; regions in red indicate higher concentration of organics. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / UCLA / ASI / INAF / MPS / DLR / IDA.

New Research Reveals Origin of Ceres’ Organic Matter

Oct 23, 2017 by News Staff

Organic-rich materials found on Ceres by NASA’s Dawn orbiter are native to the dwarf planet, according to new research led by Southwest Research Institute...

This Hubble image shows the massive galaxy cluster WHL J24.3324-8.477. The bright flash in the middle of the image is actually a star lying within our Milky Way Galaxy. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Focuses on Massive Galaxy Cluster

Oct 23, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows WHL J24.3324-8.477, a massive galaxy cluster some 7.1 billion light-years away in the...

EPIC 228732031b orbits so close to its parent star that a new year comes every 8.9 hours. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / TESS / MIT / Lincoln Laboratory.

Rocky Ultra-Short-Period Exoplanet Found Orbiting Yellow Dwarf

Oct 23, 2017 by Natali Anderson

An international team of astronomers has discovered a rocky exoplanet with an orbital period of 8.9 hours. EPIC 228732031b orbits so close to its parent...

Artist’s conception of the complex magnetic field environment at Mars. Yellow lines represent magnetic field lines from the Sun carried by the solar wind, blue lines represent Martian surface magnetic fields, white sparks are reconnection activity, and red lines are reconnected magnetic fields that link the surface to space via the Martian magnetotail. Image credit: Anil Rao / University of Colorado / MAVEN / NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Mars Has a Twisted Magnetotail, NASA Research Reveals

Oct 20, 2017 by News Staff

According to new research using data from NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN) spacecraft, the Red Planet has an invisible magnetic...

This view of Titan is among the last images NASA’s Cassini spacecraft sent to Earth before it plunged into the giant planet’s atmosphere. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / Space Science Institute.

Toxic Ice Cloud Found in Titan’s Stratosphere

Oct 19, 2017 by News Staff

Planetary researchers with NASA’s Cassini mission have detected a cloud of toxic hybrid ice high above the south pole of Saturn’s hazy moon, Titan. This...

This artist’s impression shows two neutron stars at the point at which they merge and explode as a kilonova. Such a very rare event is expected to produce both gravitational waves and a short gamma-ray burst, both of which were observed on August 17, 2017, by LIGO and Virgo collaborations. Image credit: ESO / L. Calcada / M. Kornmesser.

Space- and Ground-Based Telescopes Catch Light from Gravitational-Wave Event GW170817

Oct 17, 2017 by News Staff

For the first time, astronomers have observed the source of gravitational waves, created by the merger of two neutron stars. The cataclysmic aftermaths...

Artist’s illustration of two merging neutron stars. Image credit: NSF / LIGO / Sonoma State University / A. Simonnet.

Scientists Detect Gravitational Waves from Colliding Neutron Stars

Oct 17, 2017 by News Staff

The LIGO Scientific Collaboration, Virgo Collaboration, and their partners have directly detected gravitational waves — ripples in space and time...

NGC 2623 is in the late stages of the merging process, with the centers of the original galaxy pair now merged into one nucleus, but stretching out from the center are two tidal tails of young stars, a strong indicator that a merger has taken place. During such a collision, the dramatic exchange of mass and gases initiates star formation, seen here in both the tails. The prominent lower tail is richly populated with bright star clusters. These star clusters may have formed as part of a loop of stretched material associated with the northern tail, or they may have formed from debris falling back onto the nucleus. In addition to this active star-forming region, both galactic arms harbor very young stars in the early stages of their evolutionary journey. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Spots Twisted Cosmic Knot: NGC 2623

Oct 16, 2017 by News Staff

A jaw-dropping new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope captures what appears to be a strange galaxy with two ‘tails,’ but is actually the...

This artist’s concept depicts a three-planet system. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Three-Planet System Found in Hyades Cluster

Oct 16, 2017 by Sergio Prostak

Astronomers using data from the NASA Kepler spacecraft’s reborn K2 mission have discovered a planetary system containing at least three exoplanets, orbiting...

In this screenshot from the short animated film Cassini’s Grand Finale, the spacecraft is shown breaking apart after entering the atmosphere of Saturn. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

NASA Researchers Reconstruct Cassini’s Dive into Saturn’s Atmosphere

Oct 15, 2017 by News Staff

Analysis of science data from Cassini’s final plunge is ongoing, but NASA researchers already have a clear understanding of how the spacecraft behaved...

It’s raining on Titan. Image credit: David A. Hardy, AstroArt / NASA.

Heavy Methane Rainstorms Batter Titan, Researchers Say

Oct 13, 2017 by News Staff

Saturn’s hazy moon has surprisingly extreme rainstorms, according to new research published in the journal Nature Geoscience. It’s raining on Titan....

This artist’s rendering shows a giant exoplanet causing small bodies to collide in a disk of dust. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Want to Find Giant Exoplanet? Just Look for Young Stars with Debris Disks, Say Astronomers

Oct 12, 2017 by News Staff

A new study in the Astronomical Journal finds that giant exoplanets with long-period orbits are more likely to be found around young stars that have a...

This artist’s concept depicts Kepler-186f, the first validated Earth-size planet to orbit a distant star in the habitable zone. Image credit: NASA / Ames / SETI Institute / JPL-Caltech.

Solar Lensing Telescope: NASA Scientists Propose New Technique to Directly Image Surface of Distant Exoplanets

Oct 12, 2017 by News Staff

A space telescope placed far beyond the orbit of the dwarf planet Pluto could one day deliver high-resolution images of distant exoplanets, according to...

SMCN 2016-10a was discovered on October 14, 2016. Novae occur frequently in our Milky Way Galaxy, with a rate of around 35 each year, but SMCN 2016-10a is the first nova to have been detected in the Small Magellanic Cloud since 2012. Left: the nova system before eruption. Right: the nova system in outburst. Image credit: OGLE Survey.

Astronomers Discover One of Most Luminous Novae Ever

Oct 11, 2017 by News Staff

In a nearby dwarf galaxy called the Small Magellanic Cloud, astronomers have discovered possibly the most luminous nova ever. SMCN 2016-10a was discovered...

Mars’ Eridania Basin Once Held Vast Sea

Oct 9, 2017 by News Staff

NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has identified what appear to be ancient hydrothermal deposits in the Eridania region in the southern highlands...

This image, taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys on board the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, shows the blue compact dwarf galaxy LEDA 17302. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Hubble Displays Blue Compact Dwarf Galaxy

Oct 9, 2017 by Enrico de Lazaro

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image shows a galaxy known as LEDA 17302. It is a galaxy type known as a blue compact dwarf galaxy. This image, taken...

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