Simulation May Explain Saturnian System
Saturn’s odd mix of mid-sized satellites are among the strangest in the outer Solar System. With widely varying densities and locations, measuring between 300 to…
Space News
Scientists Discover a New Type of Cosmic Ray
Scientists using the XMM-Newton X-ray astronomy satellite discovered a new signature of a source of low-energy hadronic cosmic rays in the vicinity of the Arches…
Earth-Sized Exoplanet Discovered in Alpha Centauri System
Astronomers have uncovered a low-mass planet orbiting α Centauri B, a member of the stellar system neighboring our Solar System. Although the exoplanet is nearly…
Volunteer Scientists Aid in Discovery of Four-Star Planet PH1
A team of international astronomers, aided by volunteer scientists using the Planethunters.org website, discovered a circumbinary planet in a four-star system, called PH1. The discovery…
NASA’s WISE Uncovers New Clues on Jovian Trojans
New data from WISE answers several questions about Jovian Trojans, asteroids that orbit the sun on the same path as Jupiter, and is the first…
Hubble Views Hen 3-1475, A Planetary Nebula in the Making
The Hubble Space Telescope captured an image of Hen 3-1475, a planetary nebula in the making that is located roughly 18,000 light-years away from Earth…
Satellites Monitor the Colliding Winds of O-Type Stars
The combined effort of NASA’s Swift satellite, the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton observatory, and several ground-based facilities has allowed scientists to X-ray the colliding stellar…
High Energy Cosmic Rays Could Give Clues to Whether Our Universe Is a Simulation
Quantum chromodynamics is the theory that describes the strong nuclear force, how it binds quarks and gluons into protons and neutrons, and how these form…
Mars Rock Is a Close Match in Chemical Composition to Rocks Found on Earth
Using Curiosity’s arm-mounted Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) instrument and the Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument, scientists examined the chemical makeup of the football-size rock…
Cosmic Spiral Around Red Giant Star R Sculptoris Could Elucidate Stellar Evolution
R Sculptoris, an elderly star, located 1,500 light-years from Earth, has been observed in the final stages of stellar life, slowly shedding the outer layers…
Distant Exoplanets Form Planetary Syzygy Celestial Alignment
Astronomers have discovered that two exoplanets are overlapping in the skies as they cross their star. The phenomenon is new enough that it doesn’t have…
Astronomers Discover Star Orbiting the Black Hole at Center of the Milky Way
A team of scientists discovered a star called S0-102 that orbits the black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy in 11.5 years….
Curiosity Assesses a Small Plastic Object Found on the Surface of Mars
NASA’s Curiosity rover continues to assess a small plastic object discovered on the surface of Mars. It is believed that the object is something from…
Herschel Discovers Water Vapor in a Molecular Cloud on the Verge of Star Formation
The Herschel space observatory has discovered water vapor in a pre-stellar core in the constellation of Taurus known as Lynds 1544. This is the first…
Thor’s Helmet Nebula
The above image of Thor’s Helmet Nebula was chosen as the winner of a competition during ESO’s 50th anniversary celebration. The nebula is located roughly…
Hubble Views the Cosmic Riches of Messier 69
This Hubble image shows the globular cluster Messier 69, also known as NGC 6637, which is located 29,700 light-years away in the constellation Sagittarius. This…
Images of the Necklace Nebula
The Necklace Nebula (PN G054.2-03.4) is a planetary nebula situated in the northern constellation Sagitta, and is located about 15,000 light-years away. It was first…
NASA Satellite Discovers a New Black Hole in the Milky Way
NASA’s Swift satellite detected high-energy X-rays a few degrees from the center of our galaxy, toward the constellation Sagittarius. Produced by a rare X-ray nova,…
