Astronomy News

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

Illustration of an Earth-like exoplanet after X-ray radiation exposure. Image credit: NASA / CXC / M. Weiss.
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 dose of X-rays that arrives months to years after the explosion and may last for decades, according to X-ray observations of 31 supernovae and their aftermath obtained from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, NASA’s Swift and NuSTAR missions, and ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray observatory. This threat...

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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...

An artist’s illustration of NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

NASA’s TESS Mission Marks Five Years in Space

Apr 19, 2023 by News Staff

Since its launch in April 2018, NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) have mapped more than 93% of the entire sky, discovered 329 new alien...

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 Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), shows Arp 220, a duo of colliding galaxies with merging cores; the brilliant light from the star-formation surrounding these cores creates diffraction spikes. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / K. Pontoppidan, STScI / A. Pagan, STScI.

Webb Sees Ultraluminous Galaxy Collision: Arp 220

Apr 18, 2023 by News Staff

Arp 220 is the result of a collision between two spiral galaxies; the enormous object glows brightest in infrared light, making it an ideal target for...

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...

A photo of the huge elliptical galaxy Messier 87 (left) is compared to its 3D shape as gleaned from meticulous observations made with Hubble and Keck telescopes (right). Image credit: NASA / ESA / Joseph Olmsted, STScI / Frank Summers, STScI / Chung-Pei Ma, UC Berkeley.

Astronomers Measure 3D Shape of Messier 87 and Mass of Its Central Black Hole

Apr 17, 2023 by News Staff

Messier 87, a massive elliptical galaxy located approximately 53 million light-years away in the constellation of Virgo, turns out to be triaxial, or potato-shaped,...

This Hubble image shows UGC 678, a barred spiral galaxy some 260 million light-years away in the constellation of Pisces. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / C. Kilpatrick / R.J. Foley.

Hubble Observes Beautiful Spiral Galaxy

Apr 17, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have captured a striking new photo of the barred spiral galaxy UGC 678. This Hubble image shows UGC...

Color-composite image of the galaxy cluster RX J2129.6+0005; green circles indicate three lensed images of the dwarf starburst galaxy RX J2129-z95. Image credit: Williams et al., doi: 10.1126/science.adf5307.

Webb Finds Tiny Star-Forming Galaxy in Early Universe

Apr 13, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The newly-discovered galaxy, named RX J2129-z95, appears as three images due to the gravitational lensing of the foreground galaxy cluster RX J2129.6+0005....

New image of M87* generated by the PRIMO algorithm using the 2017 EHT data. Image credit: Medeiros et al., doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/acc32d.

EHT Image of Messier 87’s Black Hole Reconstructed with Novel Machine Learning Algorithm

Apr 13, 2023 by News Staff

The iconic Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) image of the supermassive black hole at the center of Messier 87 has received its first official makeover, thanks...

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...

An artist’s impression of a runaway supermassive black hole that was ejected from its host galaxy as a result of a tussle between it and two other black holes. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Leah Hustak, STScI.

Hubble Spots Runaway Supermassive Black Hole

Apr 11, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The newly-discovered supermassive black hole resides in a compact star-forming galaxy around 7.7 billion years away and has a mass of 20 million solar...

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...

Astronomers from the ACT Collaboration used NSF’s Atacama Cosmology Telescope to create this new map of the dark matter; the orange regions show where there is more mass; purple where there is less or none; the typical features are hundreds of millions of light years across; the whitish band shows where contaminating light from dust in our Milky Way Galaxy, measured by ESA’s Planck satellite, obscures a deeper view. Image credit: ACT Collaboration.

Astronomers Create Most Detailed Map of Dark Matter

Apr 11, 2023 by News Staff

Using data from NSF’s Atacama Cosmology Telescope, astronomers have produced the most detailed map of dark matter distributed across one quarter of the...

This new image from Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) shows Cassiopeia A, a supernova remnant located about 11,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cassiopeia. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / D.D. Milisavljevic, Purdue University / T. Temim, Princeton University / I. De Looze, Ghent University / J. DePasquale, STScI.

Webb Shows Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A in New Light

Apr 10, 2023 by News Staff

A new mid-infrared image from the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) onboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope shows the supernova remnant Cassiopeia...

This Webb image shows Uranus and six of its 27 known moons (most of which are too small and faint to be seen in this short exposure). Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / J. DePasquale, STScI.

Webb Captures Stunning Images of Uranus and Its Moons

Apr 10, 2023 by News Staff

New images from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope show the ice giant Uranus, its faint rings and several moons. This image of Uranus, captured...

This Hubble image shows JO204, a spiral galaxy some 600 million light-years away in the constellation of Sextans. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / M. Gullieuszik / GASP Team.

Hubble Space Telescope Spies Jellyfish Galaxy Edge-On

Apr 10, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The new image of JO204, a spiral galaxy located approximately 600 million light-years away in the constellation of Sextans, was captured by the NASA/ESA...

To the lower right of this Webb image is the lensing cluster SDSS J1226+2149 with a very large and bright elliptical galaxy at its center; thin, reddish, stretched-out arcs surround it; one arc is thick and much brighter; another red galaxy is large and warped, just next to the cluster core. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / J. Rigby.

Webb Spots Cosmic Seahorse

Apr 5, 2023 by News Staff

The lensing galaxy cluster SDSS J1226+2149 has magnified distant galaxies, warping their shapes and creating the bright smears of light spread throughout...

This artist’s concept shows the brilliant glare of two quasars residing in the cores of two galaxies that are in the chaotic process of merging. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Joseph Olmsted, STScI.

Merger of Two Massive Disk Galaxies Produces Dual Quasar

Apr 5, 2023 by News Staff

Using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and other space and ground-based observatories, astronomers have discovered SDSS J0749+2255, a closely bound...

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...

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