In a newly published study, scientists from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics reveal silicon-capped hydrocarbons as the possible source of the mysterious “diffuse interstellar bands.”…
An international group of researchers has demonstrated a more accurate method for measuring the mass of galaxies, revealing that the Milky Way has only about…
In this six-minute Hubblecast video, scientists explore the merging of elliptical galaxies. Hubblecast 76: Merging galaxies and droplets of starbirth This Hubblecast explores the ‘beads…
New research resolves a decades-old puzzle about a fog of low-energy X-rays observed over the entire sky, confirming the long-held suspicion that much of this…
Using data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, two newly published studies detail the discovery of 101 distinct geysers on Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus. Scientists using mission…
This newly released image from ESA’s Herschel Space Observatory shows the Triangulum Galaxy, which is home to some forty billion stars and is located three…
This newly released Hubble image shows two spiral galaxies engaged in a cosmic tug-of-war. From objects as small as Newton’s apple to those as large…
In a newly published study, astronomers detail the results of a photometric search for variable stars in the core of the globular cluster M4. A…
Astronomers used almost 200 images of distant galaxies combined with Hubble data to measure the total mass of galaxy cluster MCS J0416.1–2403 more precisely than…
New images from ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft reveal surface structures of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, allowing scientists to create a 3D shape model of the nucleus. As the…
This newly released image from ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile shows star cluster NGC 3293, which is located 8,000 light-years from Earth in the…
Scientists have made the most precise measurement ever of the radius of a planet outside our solar system, confirming Kepler-93b as a “super-Earth” that is…
Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers reveal that three exoplanets that were thought to be ideal candidates for detecting water vapor in their atmospheres contain…
Scientists are taking a new approach in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, studying exoplanet atmospheres for signs of pollution. Humanity is on the threshold of…
A newly published study shows that modifying the standard cosmological model in order to include fairly massive neutrinos does not explain all the physical observations…
To celebrate Chandra’s 15th anniversary, NASA has released four new images of supernova remnants – the Crab Nebula, Tycho, G292.0+1.8, and 3C58. Fifteen years ago,…
A team of scientists used the Hubble Space Telescope to probe the outskirts of elliptical galaxy Centaurus A, revealing that the galaxy’s halo spreads far…
Astronomers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have discovered a transiting exoplanet with the longest known year, circling its star once every 704 days. Astronomers…