Tag Archive for 'O-type star'

This VST image shows Gum 80, a nebula located roughly 6,000 light-years away in the constellation of Serpens. Image credit: ESO / VPHAS+ Team.

VST Sees Impostor Supergiant Star in Gum 80

May 6, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the VLT Survey Telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile have captured a stunning new image of the nebula Gum 80. This VST image...

Artist’s impression of Zeta Puppis, an O-type star approximately 1,400 light-years away in the constellation Puppis. Image credit: Tahina Ramiaramanantsoa.

Nearby Supernova Explosions May Have Caused Several Mass Extinctions on Earth

Mar 13, 2025 by News Staff

According to new research from Keele University and the Universidad de Alicante, near-Earth explosions of giant O- and B-type stars occur at a rate of...

The nebula encasing NGC 2040 resembles a vibrant rose in this image captured by the Gemini South telescope. Image credit: International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. Miller & M. Rodriguez, International Gemini Observatory & NSF NOIRLab / T.A. Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage & NSF NOIRLab / M. Zamani, NSF NOIRLab.

Gemini Telescope Spots ‘Cosmic Flower’ in Large Magellanic Cloud

Feb 17, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using the Gemini South telescope, astronomers from NSF’s NOIRLab have imaged a beautiful nebula around the young open cluster NGC 2040. The nebula encasing...

This Hubble image of a star-forming region containing massive, young, blue stars in the Tarantula Nebula. Image credit: NASA / ESA / STScI / Francesco Paresce, INAF-IASF Bologna / Robert O’Connell, UVA / SOC-WFC3 / ESO.

Hubble Space Telescope Focuses on Young Stars

Apr 2, 2024 by News Staff

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have collected information on almost 500 stars as part of the Ultraviolet Legacy Library of Young...

This image from Webb’s NIRCam instrument of star-forming region NGC 604 shows how stellar winds from bright, hot young stars carve out cavities in surrounding gas and dust. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI.

Webb Captures Spectacular Images of NGC 604

Mar 11, 2024 by News Staff

NGC 604 is similar to familiar starbirth regions in our Milky Way Galaxy, such as the Orion Nebula, but it is much larger in extent and contains many more...

This 340-light-year-wide image from Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) shows the Tarantula Nebula. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / Webb ERO Production Team.

Webb Takes Close Look at Tarantula Nebula

Sep 6, 2022 by News Staff

The Tarantula Nebula, a turbulent star-birth region located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, hosts thousands of young and still-forming stars, many revealed...

This image, taken with the Zorro imager on the 8.1-m Gemini South telescope, shows R136a1, the largest star yet discovered. Image credit: International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / T.A. Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage & NSF’s NOIRLab / M. Zamani, NSF’s NOIRLab / D. de Martin, NSF’s NOIRLab.

Gemini South Telescope Captures Best Ever Images of Most Massive Known Star

Aug 22, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

R136a1 has a mass between 170 and 230 solar masses, according to an analysis of optical data from the speckle imager Zorro mounted on the 8.1-m Gemini...

Zeta Ophiuchi was once in close orbit with another star, before being ejected when this companion was destroyed in a supernova explosion; infrared data from Spitzer reveal a spectacular shock wave (red and green) that was formed by matter blowing away from the star’s surface and slamming into gas in its path; data from Chandra (blue) show a bubble of X-ray emission located around the star, produced by gas that has been heated by the shock wave to tens of millions of degrees. Image credit: NASA / CXC / University of Cambridge / Sisk-Reynés et al. / NSF / NRAO / VLA / PanSTARRS.

Chandra Takes New Look at Giant Runaway Star Zeta Ophiuchi

Jul 26, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Zeta Ophiuchi is a very massive, hot, bright blue star that once had a companion that exploded as a supernova. Zeta Ophiuchi was once in close orbit with...

A schematic view of the history of the accretion disk and the flyby object: the three plots starting from the bottom left are snapshots from the numerical simulation, capturing the system right at the flyby event, 4,000 years after, and 8,000 years after, respectively; the top right image is from the ALMA observations, showing the disk with spirals and the two objects around it, corresponding to the system at 12,000 years after the flyby event. Image credit: Lu et al., doi: 10.1038/s41550-022-01681-4.

ALMA Images Spiral Protostellar Disk near Milky Way’s Center

Jun 21, 2022 by News Staff

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have discovered a massive accretion disk with two spiral arms around a 32-solar-mass...

This Hubble image shows frEGGs J203441.7+405216, compact globules of interstellar dust and gas located in the constellation of Cygnus. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / R. Sahai, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory / Gladys Kober, NASA & Catholic University of America.

Hubble Finds Free-Floating EGGs in Northern Coalsack Nebula

Nov 10, 2021 by Enrico de Lazaro

The free-floating Evaporating Gaseous Globules (frEGGs) are the recently-discovered class of star-forming nurseries. This Hubble image shows frEGGs J203441.7+405216,...

Location of the observed O- and B- type stars on the Galactic plane. Image credit: De Cia et al., doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03780-0.

Milky Way’s Interstellar Medium Is Not Homogeneous, New Study Shows

Sep 9, 2021 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have measured the metallicity of the neutral interstellar medium towards 25 bright stars in our Milky...

Hubble’s image of the Orion Nebula with proplyd highlights. Image credit: NASA / ESA / M. Robberto, Space Telescope Science Institute & ESA / Hubble Space Telescope Orion Treasury Project Team / L. Ricci, ESO.

Massive Stars near Solar System’s Parent Molecular Cloud Affected Composition of Its Building Blocks

Jul 6, 2021 by News Staff

In 2011, planetary researchers using samples of the solar wind collected by NASA’s Genesis spacecraft found that solar system planetary bodies have a...

The Solar System moves through the Local Interstellar Cloud. Image credit: NASA / Adler / University of Chicago / Wesleyan.

Solar System is Traveling through Cloud of Supernova Debris: Study

Aug 25, 2020 by Enrico de Lazaro

An international team of scientists has found interstellar iron-60, a radioactive isotope with a half-life of 2.6 million years that is predominantly produced...

Huge Bright Spots on Supergiant Star Zeta Puppis Drive Spirals in Its Extremely Strong Stellar Wind

Oct 24, 2017 by News Staff

Zeta Puppis, also known as Naos, is a blue supergiant star, one of the most luminous stars in our Milky Way Galaxy. It is about 60 times more massive than...

Artist’s impression of the disc and outflow around the massive protostar G11.92–0.61 MM1. Image credit: A. Smith / Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge.

Astronomers Find Heavyweight Protostar in Milky Way Galaxy

Aug 22, 2016 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers has identified a massive protostar, G11.92–0.61 MM1 (MM1 for short), which could help scientists understand how...

VLT Survey Telescope Captures Vast Nebula Illuminated by Giant Stars

Mar 2, 2016 by News Staff

RCW 106, a vast cloud of gas and dust, along with its rich and fascinating surroundings, are captured in this incredible photo from ESO’s VLT Survey...

Our Solar System is located at the center of the circle on this artist’s impression of the Milky Way Galaxy. The insert shows one view from the 3D visualization tool developed by the astronomers. Image credit: ESA / H. Bouy, CSIC-INTA / J. Alves, University of Vienna.

ESA’s Hipparcos Satellite Sheds New Light on Solar Neighborhood

Nov 16, 2015 by News Staff

Astronomers using data from ESA’s Hipparcos space astrometry mission have produced a 3D visualization of all of O and B type stars within 1,630 light...

VLT Data Suggest Brightest Stars Have Close Companions

Jul 27, 2012 by Sergio Prostak

A multinational team of researchers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope has discovered that almost three quarters of high-mass stars have close companions,...