Astronomy News

Hotter White Dwarfs are Slightly Puffier than Cooler Ones, New Study Says

Concept art of two white dwarfs with the same mass but different temperatures; the hotter star (left) is slightly puffier, while the cooler star (right) is more compact. Image credit: Roberto Molar Candanosa / Johns Hopkins University.
Dec 18, 2024 by News Staff

Using a catalog of 26,041 white dwarfs observed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, astronomers have confirmed a long-predicted effect in these ancient ultradense stars. Concept art of two white dwarfs with the same mass but different temperatures; the hotter star (left) is slightly puffier, while the cooler star (right) is more compact. Image credit: Roberto Molar Candanosa / Johns Hopkins University. Stars that are not massive enough to turn into neutron...

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This image indicates the location of the binary star D9, which is orbiting Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy. Image credit: ESO / Peißker et al. / S. Guisard.

Binary Star System Detected Close to Milky Way’s Central Black Hole

Dec 17, 2024 by News Staff

Using data from ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and Keck telescope, astronomers have discovered a binary star system in the S star cluster close to...

This Webb image shows NGC 346, a massive star cluster in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Yellow circles overlaid on the image indicate the positions of the ten stars surveyed in the study. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / Olivia C. Jones, UK ATC / Guido De Marchi, ESTEC / Margaret Meixner, USRA.

Protoplanetary Disks around Sun-Like Stars Appear to Live Longer in Early Universe

Dec 16, 2024 by News Staff

In 2003, Hubble provided evidence of a massive exoplanet around a very old star. Such stars possess only small amounts of heavier elements that are the...

A prominent bar of stars stretches across the center of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 2566, and spiral arms emerge from each end of the bar. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / D. Thilker.

Hubble Focuses on Beautiful Barred Spiral Galaxy: NGC 2566

Dec 16, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured a striking new photo of the barred spiral galaxy NGC 2566. A prominent bar of stars...

The internal structure of Io as revealed by the present study. Image credit: Sofia Shen / NASA / JPL / Caltech.

Jupiter’s Moon Io Does Not Have Subsurface Magma Ocean, Study Suggests

Dec 13, 2024 by News Staff

Volcanic activity on Io — the innermost Galilean moon of Jupiter and the most volcanically active body in the Solar System — is unlikely to...

The Firefly Sparkle galaxy is in the process of assembling and forming new stars, existed about 600 million years after the Big Bang, and weighs about the same as our Milky Way Galaxy if we could wind back the clock to see our Galaxy as it developed. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / C. Willott, NRC-Canada / L. Mowla, Wellesley College / K. Iyer, Columbia.

Webb Discovers Actively Forming Low-Mass Galaxy in Early Universe

Dec 12, 2024 by News Staff

Nicknamed the Firefly Sparkle, the newly-discovered galaxy existed approximately 600 million years after the Big Bang and consisted of a least 10 star...

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.

Webb Validates Hubble’s Distance Measurements

Dec 11, 2024 by News Staff

New observations from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope confirms previous measurements by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of distances between...

An artist’s concept of Messier 77, featuring its powerful black hole and accretion disk, and never before seen polarization in water masers outside of our Milky Way Galaxy. Image credit: NSF / AUI / NRAO / S. Dagnello.

Astronomers Spot Magnetic Filaments in Accretion Disk around Messier 77’s Central Black Hole

Dec 11, 2024 by News Staff

Messier 77 is a well-known, relatively nearby, bright spiral galaxy with a supermassive black hole at its center. An artist’s concept of Messier 77,...

This artist’s impression shows ‘Oumuamua, the first interstellar object discovered in our Solar System. Recent observations show that the object is moving faster than predicted while leaving the Solar System. Astronomers assume that venting material from its surface due to solar heating is responsible for this behavior. This outgassing can be seen in this artist’s impression as a subtle cloud being ejected from the side of the object facing the Sun. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / ESO / M. Kornmesser.

New Research Doubles Number of Known Dark Comets

Dec 10, 2024 by News Staff

Dark comets are small bodies with no detected coma that have significant accelerations explainable by outgassing of volatiles, analogous to the first interstellar...

From 2014 to 2024, Hubble has been studying Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune under the OPAL program. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / A. Simon, NASA-GSFC / M.H. Wong, UC Berkeley / J. DePasquale, STScI.

Hubble’s OPAL Program Celebrates Decade of Tracking Solar System’s Giant Planets

Dec 10, 2024 by News Staff

The OPAL (Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy) program obtains long-term baseline observations of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune in order to understand...

An artist’s illustration of Webb revealing, in the infrared, a population of main-belt decameter asteroids. Image credit: Ella Maru / Julien de Wit.

Webb Detects 138 Decameter Asteroids in Main Belt

Dec 9, 2024 by News Staff

These asteroids are as small as 10 m across, making them the smallest asteroids ever observed in the main asteroid belt. An artist’s illustration of...

This DECam image shows the spiral galaxy Messier 83. Image credit: CTIO / NOIRLab / DOE / NSF / AURA / T.A. Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage & NSF NOIRLab / D. de Martin, NSF NOIRLab / M. Zamani, NSF NOIRLab.

Dark Energy Camera Captures Stunning New Image of Messier 83

Dec 9, 2024 by News Staff

The swirling spiral arms of Messier 83, one of the most prominent spiral galaxies in the night sky, display a high rate of star formation and have been...

This composite image, taken by JAXA’s Akatsuki spacecraft, shows Venus. Image credit: JAXA / ISAS / DARTS / Damia Bouic.

Venus Has Never Been Habitable, New Study Suggests

Dec 9, 2024 by News Staff

Planetary researcher Tereza Constantinou and her colleagues at the University of Cambridge have examined the chemical composition of the Venusian atmosphere...

This Hubble image shows NGC 5643, a grand design spiral some 55 million light-years away in the constellation of Lupus. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / A. Riess / D. Thilker / D. De Martin, ESA & Hubble / M. Zamani, ESA & Hubble.

Hubble Space Telescope Revisits NGC 5643

Dec 9, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

The Hubble team has released a striking new image of the central part of NGC 5643, a grand design spiral galaxy in the constellation of Lupus. This Hubble...

This false-color four-image mosaic comprises images taken from a distance of 28.7 km from the center of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 3 February 2015. The mosaic measures 4.2 x 4.6 km. Image credit: ESA / Rosetta / NAVCAM / CC BY-SA IGO 3.0.

Study: Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko’s Water Has Similar Molecular Signature to Earth’s Water

Dec 4, 2024 by NASA

Contradicting the results of several recent studies, the new findings reopen the case that Jupiter-family comets like 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko could have...

Starspots on the surface of XX Trianguli. Image credit: HUN-REN RCAES / Zs. Kővári, MOME / Á. Radványi, AIP / K. Strassmeier.

Astronomers Observe Starspots on Surface of Giant Star

Dec 4, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

XX Trianguli, a bright K0-type giant star in a binary system located in the constellation of Triangulum, exhibits chaotic, non-periodic star spot behavior,...

This illustration depicts Kepler-51 and its three giant planets. Image credit: NASA / ESA / L. Hustak, J. Olmsted, D. Player & F. Summers, STScI.

Astronomers Discover Fourth Exoplanet in Kepler-51 System

Dec 3, 2024 by Natali Anderson

Kepler-51 is a 500-million-year-old G-type star hosting four low density planets, according to a new paper published in the Astronomical Journal. This...

Miles et al. created the most detailed maps of gravitational waves across the Universe to date. Image credit: Carl Knox / OzGrav / Swinburne University of Technology / South African Radio Astronomy Observatory.

Astronomers Create Most Detailed Map of Gravitational Wave Background to Date

Dec 3, 2024 by News Staff

Astronomers using the MeerKAT Pulsar Timing Array, an international experiment that uses the MeerKAT Radio Telescope in South Africa, have uncovered further...

An artist’s impression of primordial black holes. Image credit: NASA.

Astrophysicists to Search for Primordial Black Holes in Planets, Asteroids, and Materials on Earth

Dec 2, 2024 by News Staff

Primordial black holes have been theorized for decades and could even be ever-elusive dark matter. Still, no primordial black hole has ever been observed....

This Hubble image shows NGC 1637, an intermediate spiral galaxy located some 38 million light-years away in the constellation of Eridanus. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / D. Thilker.

Hubble Space Telescope Captures Lopsided Spiral Galaxy

Dec 2, 2024 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have delivered an unrivalled snapshot of the intermediate spiral galaxy NGC 1637. This Hubble image...

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