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Artist’s impression of a hypervelocity star ejected from the Large Magellanic Cloud (shown on right). When a binary star system ventures too close to a supermassive black hole, the intense gravitational forces tear the pair apart. One star is captured into a tight orbit around the black hole, while the other is flung outward at extreme velocities -- often exceeding thousands of kilometers per second -- becoming a hypervelocity star. The inset illustration depicts this process: the original binary’s orbital path is shown as interwoven lines, with one star being captured by the black hole (near center of inset) while the other is ejected into space (lower right). Image credit: CfA / Melissa Weiss.

Astronomers Find Strong Evidence for Supermassive Black Hole in Large Magellanic Cloud

Mar 6, 2025 by News Staff

The mass of the supermassive black hole in the center of the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, is about 600,000 solar...

This artist’s impression shows an exoplanet (left) that has approached too close to a white dwarf (right) and been torn apart by tidal forces from the star. Image credit: NASA / CXC / SAO / M. Weiss.

Enigmatic X-Ray Emission from Distant White Dwarf Points to Destroyed Exoplanet

Mar 5, 2025 by News Staff

Astronomers may finally have settled the question of what is causing highly energetic X-rays from WD 2226-210, a white dwarf star located at the center...

This artist’s concept depicts one of the possible scenarios for the Altjira system in the Kuiper Belt. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Joseph Olmsted, STScI.

Kuiper-Belt Object Altjira is Likely a Hierarchical Triple System

Mar 4, 2025 by News Staff

Altjira, also known as 2001 UQ18, is located in the outer reaches of the Solar System, 6 billion km (3.7 billion miles) away, or 44 times the distance...

An artist’s impression of SIMP 0136. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / J. Olmsted, STScI.

Multiple Cloud Layers, Hot Spots and Changing Chemistry are Present in Extrasolar Worlds: Study

Mar 3, 2025 by News Staff

New observations from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope support the presence of three specific features — clouds, hot spots, and changing...

An artist’s illustration of the Amaterasu particle observed by a surface detector array of the Telescope Array experiment. Image credit: Osaka Metropolitan University / L-INSIGHT, Kyoto University / Ryuunosuke Takeshige.

Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Rays are Produced in Neutron Star Mergers, Physicist Says

Mar 3, 2025 by News Staff

Ultrahigh energy cosmic rays are the highest-energy particles in the Universe, whose energies are more than a million times what can be achieved by humans. Professor...

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.

Water was Already Present in Primordial Universe 100-200 Million Years after Big Bang

Mar 3, 2025 by News Staff

Described in a paper that appears today in the journal Nature Astronomy, the discovery means habitable exoplanets could have started forming much earlier...

This Hubble image shows NGC 5042, an intermediate spiral galaxy some 48 million light-years away in the constellation of Hydra. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / D. Thilker.

Hubble Space Telescope Looks at NGC 5042

Mar 3, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have produced a beautiful new image of the intermediate spiral galaxy NGC 5042. This Hubble image...

This VLT image shows the near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4. Image credit: ESO / O. Hainaut.

VLT Focuses on Near-Earth Asteroid 2024 YR4

Feb 27, 2025 by News Staff

A near-Earth asteroid called 2024 YR4 has been closely monitored in the past couple of months as its odds of impacting Earth in 2032 rose to around 3%....

Visualization of the Radcliffe Wave. Image credit: Alyssa Goodman / Harvard University.

Our Solar System Crossed ‘Radcliffe Wave’ during Miocene Epoch, Astronomers Say

Feb 25, 2025 by Natali Anderson

As our Solar System orbits the Milky Way, it encounters various environments, including dense regions of the interstellar medium. These encounters can...

This Hubble image shows part of the Veil Nebula. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / R. Sankrit.

Hubble Space Telescope Explores Colorful Veil Nebula

Feb 24, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has produced an outstanding image of a small fraction of the Veil Nebula, which is part of a supernova remnant called...

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

Ionizing Radiation from Nearby Supernova Altered Virus Evolution 2.5 Million Years Ago

Feb 20, 2025 by News Staff

This supernova event likely occurred in the Upper Centaurus Lupus association, a group of massive stars approximately 457 light-years away from Earth. Illustration...

This mosaic shows galaxies hosting intermediate-mass black hole candidates, arranged in increasing order of stellar mass. Image credit: Legacy Surveys / D. Lang, Perimeter Institute / NAOJ / HSC Collaboration / D. de Martin, NSF’s NOIRLab / M. Zamani, NSF’s NOIRLab.

DESI Discovers 2,800 New Black Holes

Feb 19, 2025 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) on NSF’s Nicholas U. Mayall 4-m telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, a program...

This artist’s concept portrays the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, known as Sagittarius A*. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Ralf Crawford, STScI.

Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole is More Active than Previously Thought

Feb 19, 2025 by News Staff

The accretion disk orbiting Sagittarius A* is emitting a constant stream of flares with no periods of rest, according to an analysis of new data from the...

This diagram shows the structure and motion of the atmosphere of WASP-121b. Image credit: ESO / M. Kornmesser.

Astronomers Map Out 3D Structure of WASP-121b’s Atmosphere

Feb 18, 2025 by News Staff

Ultrahot Jupiters, an extreme class of planets not found in our Solar System, provide a unique window into atmospheric processes. Using four telescope...

Levin et al suggest that we could have more in common with our extraterrestrial neighbors than initially thought. Image credit: Fernando Ribas.

New Theory Increases Probability of Intelligent Life beyond Earth

Feb 18, 2025 by News Staff

In 1983, the theoretical physicist Brandon Carter concluded that the time it took for humans to evolve on Earth — relative to the total lifespan...

This VST image shows two elliptical galaxies: NGC 3640 and NGC 3641. Image credit: ESO / INAF / Mirabile et al. / Ragusa et al.

VST Traces History of Unusual Elliptical Galaxy

Feb 18, 2025 by Natali Anderson

A giant elliptical galaxy called NGC 3640 has engulfed several smaller galaxies in the past, according to an analysis of data from ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope...

The nebula encasing NGC 2040 resembles a vibrant rose in this image captured by the Gemini South telescope. Image credit: International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / J. Miller & M. Rodriguez, International Gemini Observatory & NSF NOIRLab / T.A. Rector, University of Alaska Anchorage & NSF NOIRLab / M. Zamani, NSF NOIRLab.

Gemini Telescope Spots ‘Cosmic Flower’ in Large Magellanic Cloud

Feb 17, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using the Gemini South telescope, astronomers from NSF’s NOIRLab have imaged a beautiful nebula around the young open cluster NGC 2040. The nebula encasing...

This Hubble image shows UGC 5460, a spiral galaxy some 60 million light-years away in the constellation of Ursa Major. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / W. Jacobson-Galán / A. Filippenko / J. Mauerhan.

Hubble Captures Sparkling Spiral Galaxy Face-On: UGC 5460

Feb 17, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have produced an outstanding image of the spiral galaxy UGC 5460. This Hubble image shows UGC 5460,...

An artist’s impression of a habitable planet orbiting a white dwarf. The ghostly blue ring is a planetary nebula - hydrogen gas the star ejected as it evolved from a red giant to a white dwarf (David A. Aguilar / CfA)

New Research Reveals Surprising Potential for Earth-Like Life around White Dwarf Stars

Feb 13, 2025 by News Staff

White dwarfs may present amenable environments for life on planets formed within or migrated to their habitable zones, generating warmer surface environments...