Tag Archive for 'Star'

Optical (left) and infrared (right) image of NGC 346 in the Small Magellanic Cloud; the positions of the main ionizing sources of NGC 346, namely SSN 7 and SSN 9, are highlighted by red and green squares, respectively. Image credit: A. Nota, ESA & STScI / NASA / ESA / CSA / O. Jones, UK ATC / G. De Marchi, ESTEC / M. Meixner, USRA / A. Pagan, STScI / N. Habel, USRA / L. Lenkic, USRA / L. Chu, NASA’s Ames Research Center.

Two Massive Touching Stars Will Merge as Black Holes in 18 Billion Years, Astronomers Predict

Apr 27, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

SSN 7 is a so-called contact binary located in the Small Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy some 210,000 light-years away in the constellation of Tucana....

This illustration shows how the ultrahot Jupiter KELT-9b sees its host star. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center / Chris Smith, USRA.

Terbium Detected in Atmosphere of Ultrahot Jupiter KELT-9b

Apr 26, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Terbium, a chemical element with the symbol Tb and atomic number 65, has never before been seen in an exoplanet atmosphere. This illustration shows how...

Siraj & Loeb explore the possibility that accretion flares resulting from the tidal disruption of small Oort Cloud bodies by a putative primordial black hole could power an observable optical signal that could be searched for with the upcoming Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time. Image credit: Sci-News.com / Zdeněk Bardon / ESO.

New Research Explores Behavior of Intermediate-Mass Black Holes

Apr 26, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Intermediate-mass black holes in the mass range between 100 and 100,000 solar masses are the missing link between stellar-mass black holes and super massive...

The left panel shows a three-color composite mosaic of NGC 346 combining Webb’s F277W (blue), F335M (green) and F444W (red) filters. The region is rich in structures of knots, arcs and filaments. Areas of bright pink and/or red emission are associated with clumpy star formation. The spatially resolved PAH emission excited by ultraviolet photons in green is brightest in regions corresponding to the edges of dense material, characteristic of a photodissociation region. Massive stars, stars belonging to the BS90 cluster (circled in green) and the Small Magellanic Cloud field population are also visible. The right panel shows a mosaic image from the F335M filter showing four different populations of stars: pre-main-sequence stars (blue circles), young stellar objects with Paα (orange diamonds), young stellar objects without Paα (red squares) and stars matched with the HST-PMS catalogue (purple stars). Image credit: Jones et al., doi: 10.1038/s41550-023-01945-7.

Webb Detects Planetary Ingredients in NGC 346

Apr 25, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Located in the Small Magellanic Cloud at a distance of roughly 200,000 light-years, NGC 346 is a prominent young cluster — roughly 3 million years...

Illustration of an Earth-like exoplanet after X-ray radiation exposure. Image credit: NASA / CXC / M. Weiss.

X-Ray-Luminous Supernovae Pose Threat to Earth-Like Planetary Atmospheres, Study Says

Apr 20, 2023 by News Staff

The aftermaths of supernovae always produce X-rays, but if the supernova’s blast wave strikes dense surrounding gas, it can produce a particularly large...

This Hubble image shows NGC 1333, a reflection nebula located 1,000 light-years away in the northern constellation of Perseus. Image credit: NASA / ESA / STScI.

Hubble Captures NGC 1333 in Stunning 33rd Anniversary Image

Apr 20, 2023 by News Staff

This new photo of the reflection nebula NGC 1333 was taken in celebration of the 33rd anniversary of the launch of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope...

Shapiro et al. show that the development of complex life on planets in the habitable zone can be sustained from a few percent of oxygen upward, being robust for a large range of stellar characteristics and against major extraterrestrial cataclysms. Image credit: MPS / Hormesdesign.de.

Metal-Poor Stars are More Suitable for Evolution of Life on Their Planets: Study

Apr 18, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Atmospheric ozone and oxygen protect the biosphere of our planet against harmful ultraviolet radiation. In new research, astronomers modeled atmospheres...

This image, captured by the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), shows the young stellar object 244-440 in the Orion Nebula. Image credit: Kirwan et al. / ESO.

VLT Spots Spectacular Bipolar Jet from Young Stellar Object in Orion Nebula Cluster

Apr 18, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope have captured the most detailed image yet of the young stellar object 244-440 and the bipolar jet associated...

Kosec et al. mapped the winds associated with the accretion disk around Hercules X-1, a binary system located 6,600 parsecs (21,526 light-years) away in the constellation of Hercules. Image credit: Jose-Luis Olivares, MIT / D. Klochkov, ESA.

Astronomers Map Colossal ‘Disk Winds’ in Hercules X-1

Apr 12, 2023 by News Staff

Hercules X-1 is an X-ray binary system in which a neutron star is drawing material away from a Sun-like star. This neutron star’s accretion disk is unique...

This image of the Crab Nebula combines data from IXPE in magenta and NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory in dark purple. Image credit: IXPE / NASA / Chandra / CXC / SAO / K. Arcand / L. Frattare.

IXPE Observes Crab Nebula and Its Pulsar

Apr 11, 2023 by News Staff

Located 6,500 light-years away in the constellation of Taurus, the Crab Nebula and its pulsar formed in a supernova whose light reached Earth in July 1054. This...

The location of Gaia BH2 and Gaia BH1 in the Milky Way. This map of our Galaxy was also made by the Gaia mission. Image credit: ESA / Gaia / DPAC / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

Gaia Discovers Its Second Black Hole

Apr 4, 2023 by News Staff

The newly-discovered dormant black hole, named Gaia BH2, is orbited by a red giant star, and has a mass of 8.9 solar masses. The location of Gaia BH2 and...

An artist’s conceptual rendering of interactions between a prospective exoplanet and its star. Image credit: NSF / Alice Kitterman.

Astronomers Detect Radio Emission Associated with Magnetic Field of Nearby Exoplanet

Apr 4, 2023 by News Staff

Observing magnetic star-planet interactions offers promise for determining the magnetic fields of exoplanets. Models of star-planet interactions predict...

An artist’s impression of the AT2018cow stellar explosion. Image credit: Phil Drury, University of Sheffield.

Astronomers Spot Flattest Known Stellar Explosion in Universe

Apr 3, 2023 by News Staff

The newly-observed stellar explosion, named AT2018cow, occurred approximately 180 million light-years away from Earth and belongs to a special class called...

This Hubble image shows UGC 2890, a small spiral galaxy some 30 million light-years away in the constellation of Camelopardalis. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / C. Kilpatrick.

Hubble Snaps Breathtaking New Image of UGC 2890

Apr 3, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have produced a beautiful image of the side-on spiral galaxy UGC 2890. This Hubble image shows UGC 2890, a small spiral...

ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray observatory recorded 20 dust rings, 19 of which are shown here in arbitrary colors. The image merges observations made two and five days after GRB 221009A erupted. Dark stripes indicate gaps between the detectors. A detailed analysis shows that the widest ring visible here, comparable to the apparent size of a full Moon, came from dust clouds located about 1,300 light-years away. The innermost ring arose from dust at a distance of 61,000 light-years -- on the other side of our Galaxy. Image credit: ESA / XMM-Newton / M. Rigoselli, INAF.

Astronomers Capture Reverse Shock Emission from Record-Breaking Gamma-Ray Burst

Mar 28, 2023 by News Staff

Astronomers have provided vital information in the global effort to understand GRB 221009A, one of the nearest and possibly the most-energetic gamma-ray...

Hartwig et al. shed a new light on solving the mystery of the first stars from the complex data set of Galactic archaeology surveys. Image credit: Kavli IPMU.

Universe’s First Stars were Born in Small Clusters, Study Suggests

Mar 23, 2023 by News Staff

In unveiling the nature of the first stars, the main astronomical clue is the elemental compositions of the second generation of stars, observed as extremely...

An artist’s impression of a gas-giant exoplanet. Image credit: Sci.News.

Low-Mass Stars are Able to Host Giant Jupiter-Like Exoplanets, Study Suggests

Mar 22, 2023 by News Staff

Gas giants, like other planets, form from protoplanetary disks of material around protostars. According to core accretion theory, they first form a core...

This Hubble image shows a portion of Messier 55, a globular cluster located some 20,000 light-years away in the constellation of Sagittarius. Image credit: NASA / ESA / A. Sarajedini, Florida Atlantic University / M. Libralato, STScI, ESA & JWST / Gladys Kober.

Hubble Space Telescope Takes Close Look at Messier 55

Mar 21, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

NASA has released a brilliant photo taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of the globular cluster Messier 55. This Hubble image shows a portion...

Some exoplanets have one side permanently facing their star while the other side is in perpetual darkness. The ring-shaped border between these permanent day and night regions is called a terminator zone. Image credit: Ana Lobo / University of California, Irvine.

Exoplanetary ‘Terminator Zones’ Have Potential to Support Alien Life, Study Suggests

Mar 20, 2023 by News Staff

Rocky exoplanets orbiting red dwarf (M-dwarf) stars are among the most promising and abundant astronomical targets for detecting habitable climates. Planets...

$This image shows WR 124, a star located approximately 15,000 light-years away in the constellation of Sagitta. The star displays the characteristic diffraction spikes of Webb’s Near-infrared Camera (NIRCam), caused by the physical structure of the telescope itself. NIRCam effectively balances the brightness of the star with the fainter gas and dust surrounding it, while Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) reveals the nebula’s structure. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / Webb ERO Production Team.$

Webb Captures Extremely Luminous and Hot Wolf-Rayet Star

Mar 15, 2023 by News Staff

Wolf-Rayet stars are in the process of casting off their outer layers, resulting in their characteristic halos of gas and dust. The new Webb images of...

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