ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope Views Stellar Nursery Sharpless 29
The OmegaCAM camera on ESO’s VLT Survey Telescope has captured this glittering view of the stellar nursery called Sharpless 29. Many astronomical phenomena can be…
Space News
Mysterious Bright Spots Suggest Geologic Activity on Ceres
If you could fly aboard NASA’s Dawn spacecraft, the surface of dwarf planet Ceres would generally look quite dark, but with notable exceptions. These exceptions…
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Views Faults in Northern Meridiani Planum
This image from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) of northern Meridiani Planum shows faults that have disrupted layered deposits. Some of the faults produced a…
Hubble Views Globular Star Cluster Messier 79
It’s beginning to look a lot like the holiday season in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of a blizzard of stars, which resembles a…
New Data Hints That 2014 MU69 Might Have a Small Moon
Astronomers were already excited to learn this summer that New Horizons’ next flyby target – a Kuiper Belt object a billion miles past Pluto —…
NASA Science from the Moon’s Shadow
On December 11, 2017, six researchers discussed initial findings based on observations of the Sun and on Earth gathered during the solar eclipse that stretched…
Astronomers Observe Nearby Radio Galaxy Centaurus A
Astronomers have used two Australian radio telescopes and several optical telescopes to study complex mechanisms that are fuelling jets of material blasting away from a…
NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Probes Jupiter’s Great Red Spot
Data collected by NASA’s Juno spacecraft during its first pass over Jupiter’s Great Red Spot in July 2017 indicate that this iconic feature penetrates well…
Astrobiologists Show How a ‘Methane Blanket’ Can Keep an Exoplanet Warm
Somewhere in our galaxy, an exoplanet is probably orbiting a star that’s colder than our sun, but instead of freezing solid, the planet might be…
False-Color Image of the Moon from NASA’s Galileo Spacecraft
The Moon was a focal point for NASA in 2017, whether it was blocking out the Sun during one of the most-viewed events in U.S….
Hubble Image of the Week – Cosmic Fireflies
Galaxies glow like fireflies in this spectacular NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image! This flickering swarm of cosmic fireflies is a rich cluster of galaxies called…
Herschel Solves Decades-Old Mystery About Starburst-Driven Superwinds
Astronomers have used ESA’s Herschel Space Observatory to solve a decades-old mystery about the origin of powerful cool gas winds in the hot environs of…
Astronomers Map Galaxy Orbits in the Local Supercluster
A team of astronomers from Maryland, Hawaii, Israel, and France has produced the most detailed map ever of the orbits of galaxies in our extended…
Astronomers Find Variations in the Initial Mass Function (IMF)
Astronomers have concluded from the study of NGC 1600 and similar galaxies that the relative populations of stars of different masses in a cluster of…
Astronomers Measure Magnetic Field of Black Hole V404 Cygni
Scientists measure the magnetic field of the black hole binary V404 Cygni, revealing a significantly weaker magnetic field than previously thought. Black holes are famous…
Researchers Proposed a New Scenario for the Formation of Ancient Clay Minerals on Mars
New research suggests that the bulk of clay minerals on Mars could have been formed as the planet’s crust cooled and solidified, not by later…
Yale Researchers ‘Look’ Deep Inside a Diamond Planet
New research by Yale University scientists suggests rocky planets orbiting other stars may hide thick layers of diamond beneath the surface. “A carbon-rich planet likely…
Astronomers Reveal Most Distant Supermassive Black Hole Ever Observed
A team of astronomers, including two from MIT, has detected the most distant supermassive black hole ever observed. The black hole sits in the center…