Astronomy News

Webb Images Giant Exoplanet Candidate in Habitable Zone of Alpha Centauri A

This artist’s concept shows what a gas giant orbiting Alpha Centauri A could look like. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / Robert L. Hurt, Caltech & IPAC.
Aug 8, 2025 by News Staff

This planet candidate, Alpha Centauri Ab, could be a gas giant, orbiting 1 to 2 times the distance between Sun and Earth, according to two papers to be published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. If confirmed, this planet would be the closest to Earth that orbits in the habitable zone of a Sun-like star. However, because the planet is a gas giant, astronomers say it would not support life as we know it. This artist’s concept shows what a gas...

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Hubble captured this image of 3I/ATLAS on July 21, 2025, when the comet was 446 million km (277 million miles) from Earth. Image credit: NASA / ESA / David Jewitt, UCLA / Joseph DePasquale, STScI.

Hubble Captures Most Detailed Images Yet of Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS

Aug 7, 2025 by News Staff

According to an analysis of the new images from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, the nucleus of 3I/ATLAS is between 320 m (1,000 feet) and 5.6 km (3.5...

This Hubble image shows the Cosmic Horseshoe gravitational lens (to the right from the center): the newly-discovered ultramassive blackhole lies at the center of the orange galaxy; far behind it is a blue galaxy that is being warped into the horseshoe shaped ring by distortions in spacetime created by the immense mass of the foreground orange galaxy. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble.

Astronomers Discover Most Massive Black Hole Yet

Aug 7, 2025 by News Staff

Astronomers have identified and measured the most massive black hole to date, which tops out at a mass of 36 billion solar masses. This ultramassive black...

Illustration of a merger of a white dwarf with sub-giant star (size not to scale) that would have occurred in past. Image credit: Snehalata Sahu / University of Warwick.

Hubble Finds Remnant of White Dwarf Merger 130 Light-Years Away

Aug 6, 2025 by News Staff

White dwarfs are the dense cores left behind when stars exhaust their fuel and collapse. They are Earth-sized stellar embers weighing typically half as...

Abell 3667 is featured in this DECam image. Image credit: CTIO / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / Anthony Englert, Brown University / T.A. Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage & NSF’s NOIRLab / M. Zamani & D. de Martin, NSF’s NOIRLab.

DECam Captures Elusive Intracluster Light in Galaxy Cluster Abell 3667

Aug 5, 2025 by News Staff

Intracluster light is a diffuse glow of stars stripped from galaxies during a galaxy cluster’s formation. Abell 3667 is featured in this DECam image....

This image shows the red supergiant star Stephenson 2 DFK 52 and its circumstellar environment. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / Siebert et al.

Astronomers Discover Exotic Red Supergiant Star

Aug 5, 2025 by Natali Anderson

Designated Stephenson 2 DFK 52, the newly-discovered red supergiant resides in the massive stellar cluster RSGC2. This image shows the red supergiant star...

This Webb/NIRCam image shows NGC 6072, a planetary nebula approximately 4,048 light-years away in the constellation of Scorpius. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI.

Two Stars Contribute to Irregular Shape of NGC 6072, Webb Observations Show

Aug 4, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using two instruments onboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have captured new high-resolution images of the planetary nebula...

This Hubble image shows part of the Tarantula Nebula, a star-forming region some 163,000 light-years away in the constellation of Dorado. The color image is a composite of separate exposures acquired by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) instrument in the ultraviolet, near-infrared, and optical parts of the spectrum. It is based on data obtained through four filters. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / C. Murray.

Hubble Sees Dusty Clouds in Tarantula Nebula

Aug 4, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

A striking new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows incredible details in the Tarantula Nebula, a turbulent star-birth region located in...

This Webb image shows the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, an area of deep space with thousands of galaxies in various shapes and sizes on a black background. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / G. Östlin / P. G. Perez-Gonzalez / J. Melinder / JADES Collaboration / M. Zamani, ESA & Webb.

Webb Visits ‘Hubble Ultra Deep Field’

Aug 1, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have observed the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF), an area of deep space with nearly 10,000...

This image of OJ 287 reveals the sharply curved, ribbon-like structure of the plasma jet emitted from its center. Image credit: Efthalia Traianou / Heidelberg University / IWR.

OJ 287 Galaxy Likely Harbors Supermassive Black Hole Binary at Its Center, Observations Suggest

Jul 31, 2025 by News Staff

Using data from the 10-m space radio telescope RadioAstron and a network of 27 ground-based observatories, astronomers have detected an unusual ribbon-like...

An artist’s impression of the super-Earth exoplanet HD 164922d. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

New Research Sheds Light on Evolution of Lava Planets

Jul 29, 2025 by News Staff

Lava planets are rocky exoplanets that orbit so close to their host star that their dayside is hot enough to melt silicate rock. Boukaré et al. introduce...

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft captured this stunning mosaic of Enceladus on October 5, 2008 as the spacecraft sped away from this geologically active moon of Saturn. Image credit: NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute.

Underground Microbial Life Could Survive on Mars, Europa and Enceladus Using Cosmic Rays

Jul 29, 2025 by News Staff

Radiolysis induced by Galactic cosmic rays could provide a viable energy source for microbial metabolism in the subsurface environments of rocky planetary...

This Hubble shows NGC 1309, a spiral galaxy some 100 million light-years away in the constellation of Eridanus. The color image is made up of observations from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and in the ultraviolet, infrared, and optical parts of the spectrum. Four filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / L. Galbany / S. Jha / K. Noll / A. Riess.

Hubble Snaps Beautiful Image of NGC 1309

Jul 28, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

The Hubble team has released a stunning new image snapped by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of the face-on spiral galaxy NGC 1309. This Hubble shows...

X-ray and infrared images of NGC 6099 HLX-1. Image credit: NASA / CXC / Inst. of Astronomy, Taiwan / Y-C Chang / ESA / STScI / HST / J. DePasquale.

Intermediate-Mass Black Hole Caught Eating Star in NGC 6099

Jul 27, 2025 by News Staff

The newly-discovered intermediate-mass black hole, named NGC 6099 HLX-1, resides in a compact star cluster on the outskirts of the elliptical galaxy NGC...

An artist’s impression of the L 98-59 planetary system; in the foreground is the habitable-zone super-Earth L 98-59f. Image credit: Benoît Gougeon / UdeM.

Astronomers Confirm Fifth Exoplanet in L 98-59 System

Jul 23, 2025 by Natali Anderson

Named L 98-59f, this planet is a non-transiting super-Earth with a minimal mass of 2.8 Earth masses on a 23-day orbit inside the habitable zone of the...

This image shows a possible substellar companion orbiting the young star V960 Mon. The candidate object was found with ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), using its new Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph (ERIS). The new ERIS data are shown here in orange, overlaid on older images of the dusty disk as seen with the VLT’s SPHERE instrument (yellow) and ALMA (blue). Image credit: ESO / A. Dasgupta / ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / Weber et al.

VLT Spots Protoplanet and Substellar Object Candidates around Young Stars

Jul 22, 2025 by News Staff

Using the Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph (ERIS) instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), two teams of astronomers have detected a...

Betelgeuse (right) and its stellar companion (left). Image credit: International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / M. Zamani, NSF’s NOIRLab.

Astronomers Directly Image Betelgeuse’s Stellar Companion

Jul 21, 2025 by News Staff

Using the speckle imager ‘Alopeke on the Gemini North telescope, one half of NSF’s International Gemini Observatory, astronomers have captured direct...

This Hubble image shows NGC 3285B, a barred spiral galaxy some 137 million light-years away in the constellation of Hydra. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the ultraviolet and infrared regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). It is based on data obtained through seven filters. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / R.J. Foley, UC Santa Cruz.

Hubble Space Telescope Gazes at Swirling Spiral Galaxy

Jul 21, 2025 by News Staff

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has produced an outstanding image of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 3285B. This Hubble image shows NGC 3285B, a barred...

Composite image of Uranus. Image credit: Marcos van Dam / W. M. Keck Observatory.

Uranus May Actually Be Warmer than Previously Expected

Jul 18, 2025 by News Staff

Uranus releases about 15% more energy than it receives from the Sun, according to two new papers published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal...

An artist’s impression of a trans-Neptunian object. Image credit: NASA / ESA / G. Bacon, STScI.

Newly-Discovered Trans-Neptunian Object is Moving in Rhythm with Neptune, Astronomers Say

Jul 17, 2025 by News Staff

Discovered by the Large inclination Distant Objects (LiDO) survey and designated 2020 VN40, this trans-Neptunian object is the first confirmed body that...

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