Astronomy News

Astronomers Spot Helium Cloud around Exo-Neptune HAT-P-11b

An artist’s impression of the exoplanet HAT-P-11b with its extended helium atmosphere blown away by the star, an orange dwarf star smaller, but more active, than the Sun. Image credit: Denis Bajram.
Dec 7, 2018 by News Staff

An international team of astronomers has detected helium escaping from the upper atmosphere of HAT-P-11b, a Neptune-mass exoplanet located in the constellation of Cygnus, about 122 light-years away. The inert gas is in an extended cloud that is escaping from HAT-P-11b, just as a helium balloon might escape from a person’s hand. An artist’s impression of the exoplanet HAT-P-11b with its extended helium atmosphere blown away by the star, an orange...

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The current, widely recognized model of the Universe, called LambdaCDM, tells us nothing about what dark matter and dark energy are like physically. We only know about them because of the gravitational effects they have on other, observable matter. Dr. Farnes’ model offers a new explanation. Image credit: NASA / ESA / M. Livio / Hubble 20th Anniversary Team, STScI.

Negative-Mass Dark Fluid: Astonishing New Theory Could Explain Universe’s Missing 95%

Dec 5, 2018 by News Staff

The standard cosmological model known as LambdaCDM can only explain 5% of the observable Universe. The remaining 95% is famously made up almost entirely...

This image of Westerlund 1 was produced from data gathered by ALMA, combined with data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Image credit: ESO / ALMA / NAOJ / NRAO / Fenech et al.

ALMA Finds Giant Stars with Comet-Like Tails in Westerlund 1

Dec 3, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have spotted comet-like stars in a young star cluster called Westerlund 1. This...

ALMA image of Europa. Image credit: ALMA / ESO / NAOJ / NRAO / S. Trumbo et al.

Astronomers Create Global Thermal Maps of Jupiter’s Moon Europa

Dec 3, 2018 by News Staff

A new series of daytime images of Europa from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has helped astronomers create first global thermal...

This map of the entire sky shows the location of 739 blazars used in NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope’s measurement of the extragalactic background light. The background shows the sky as it appears in gamma rays with energies above 10 billion electron volts, constructed from nine years of observations by Fermi’s Large Area Telescope. The plane of our Milky Way Galaxy runs along the middle of the plot. Image credit: NASA / DOE / Fermi LAT Collaboration.

Astronomers Trace History of Universe’s Star Formation

Nov 30, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers believe that our Universe began forming the first stars when it was a few hundred million years old. Since then, the Universe has become a...

This Hubble mosaic is of a portion of the Coma cluster of over 1,000 galaxies, located 300 million light-years from Earth. Image credit: NASA / ESA / J. Mack, STScI / J. Madrid, Australian Telescope National Facility.

Hubble Finds Over 22,000 Globular Clusters Hiding in Coma Galaxy Cluster

Nov 29, 2018 by News Staff

Globular clusters are ancient groups of hundreds of thousands or even millions of stars, gravitationally bound into a single structure about 100-200 light-years...

The Lascaux Shaft Scene: a panel with a rhino, a duck/goose and a disemboweled aurochs/bison with a dying man on the main wall. Image credit: © Ministère de la Culture / Centre National de la Préhistoire / Norbert Aujoulat.

European Paleolithic Art Reveals Use of Complex Astronomy

Nov 29, 2018 by News Staff

As far back as 40,000 years ago (Upper Paleolithic), ancient people kept track of time using relatively advanced knowledge of astronomy. The Lascaux Shaft...

An artist’s impression of the hot-Jupiter HD 2685b. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

NASA’s TESS Spacecraft Discovers New Hot Jupiter: HD 2685b

Nov 27, 2018 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers using data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) have discovered a hot-Jupiter exoplanet orbiting the early F-type star...

This image shows the HCG 98 group. The core of HCG 98 consists of the two ‘smudges’ at the center of the image. Each is a galaxy much like our own Milky Way Galaxy. The tadpole structure covers the central galaxy pair and was formed when the pair demolished a much smaller galaxy. Image credit: Brosch et al, doi: 10.1093/mnras/sty2717.

Astronomers Find Enormous Relic of Disrupted Tadpole Galaxy

Nov 26, 2018 by News Staff

The disrupted ‘tadpole’ galaxy has an elliptical head and a long, straight tail, and is approximately one million light-years long — about 10...

This Hubble image shows a supernova remnant called SNR 0454-67.2. The color image was made from separate exposures taken in the visible region of the spectrum with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). 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.

Hubble Sees Tangled Web in Large Magellanic Cloud

Nov 26, 2018 by Enrico de Lazaro

These threads of red snaking amidst dark, turbulent clouds make up a cosmic object known as SNR 0454-67.2. This tangled web is actually the remnants from...

An artist’s impression of the HR 8799 planetary system. Image credit: W. M. Keck Observatory / Adam Makarenko / C. Alvarez.

Astronomers Confirm Water on Young Gas Giant HR 8799c

Nov 23, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSPEC) on the Keck II telescope at the W. M. Keck Observatory have confirmed the existence of water...

The VISIR instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope captured this stunning image of the 2XMM J160050.7-514245 system. Image credit: ESO / Callingham et al.

Astronomers Find Potential Gamma-Ray Burst Progenitor

Nov 22, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope have observed an elaborate serpentine system sculpted by colliding stellar winds. The object, called 2XMM...

This Hubble image shows NGC 1866, a massive globular cluster located in the constellation Dorado, some 160,000 light-years away. The image was made from separate exposures taken in the visible region of the spectrum with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). Five 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.

Hubble Spots Young, Massive Globular Cluster NGC 1866

Nov 19, 2018 by News Staff

Globular clusters are densely packed, spherical collections of several hundred thousand stars. They are among the oldest known objects in the Universe...

This composite image shows Abell 1033, two merging galaxy clusters located about 1.6 billion light-years from Earth. Image credit: X-ray – NASA / CXC / Leiden University / F. de Gasperin et al; optical – SDSS; radio – LOFAR / ASTRON / NCRA / TIFR / GMRT.

Chandra Captures Collision of Two Galaxy Clusters: Abell 1033

Nov 19, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have determined that a massive group of galaxies called Abell 1033 is actually two galaxy...

An artist’s impression of W2246-0526, the most luminous galaxy ever discovered. Image credit: NRAO / AUI / NSF / S. Dagnello.

Universe’s Most Luminous Galaxy Is Accreting Its Smaller Neighbors

Nov 19, 2018 by News Staff

WISE J224607.55-052634.9 (W2246-0526 for short), the most luminous galaxy ever discovered, is accreting (eating) at least three of its smaller neighbors,...

An artist’s impression of ‘Oumuamua. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Interstellar Comet Oumuamua is Smaller than Previously Thought, Has Highly Reflective Surface

Nov 16, 2018 by News Staff

In October 2017, a fast moving comet of extrasolar origin, 1I/2017 U1 (‘Oumuamua), was discovered close to the Earth with a ground-based telescope in...

An artist’s impression of a binary stellar system. Image credit: L. Calçada / ESO.

Did Ancient Egyptian Scribes Discover Algol’s Variability 3,000 Years before European Astronomers?

Nov 16, 2018 by News Staff

An ancient Egyptian Calendar of Lucky and Unlucky Days assigns luck with the period of 2.85 days. Previous astronomical, astrophysical and statistical...

An artist’s concept of a blue supergiant star that once existed inside a cluster of young stars in the spiral galaxy NGC 3938. Image credit: NASA / ESA / J. Olmsted, STScI.

Astronomers Find Type Ic Supernova’s Progenitor Star

Nov 15, 2018 by News Staff

Two teams of astronomers have finally found the long-sought progenitor star to a Type Ic supernova by sifting through Hubble archival data. An artist’s...

An artist’s impression of Barnard’s star b. Image credit: Sci-News.com.

Frozen Super-Earth Found Orbiting Barnard’s Star

Nov 14, 2018 by News Staff

A potentially rocky super-Earth orbits one of our closest stellar neighbors, Barnard’s star, only 6 light-years away. An artist’s impression of Barnard’s...

Antlia 2: Enormous Dwarf Galaxy Discovered in Orbit around Milky Way

Nov 14, 2018 by News Staff

Astronomers using data from ESA’s Gaia satellite have discovered a new dwarf satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. The dwarf galaxy, named Antlia 2, is...

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