A Real ‘Galactic Portal’ – This Is an Actual Hubble Picture, Not CGI
The galaxy NGC 4380 looks like a special effect straight out of a science fiction or fantasy film in this Hubble Picture of the Week,…
Astronomy
Initial Characterization of First-Ever Interstellar Comet 2I/Borisov Complete – Including Size
For decades, astronomers have speculated that the space between stars may be populated by exosolar minor bodies — comets and asteroids — ejected from their…
Giant Galaxy Cluster Used As X-Ray Magnifying Lens to Spot Super-Energetic Stages of Star Formation
Astronomers use giant galaxy cluster as X-ray magnifying lens. The new lens technique spots tiny dwarf galaxy in the first, super-energetic stages of star formation….
Faint Filaments of the Cosmic Web Revealed by Glowing Gas
Faintly glowing wisps of gas, excited by the intense light of surrounding star-forming galaxies, have given astronomers a rare glimpse of one of the Universe’s…
Hubble Snaps Spiral Galaxy’s Profile – From Hydra Constellation, 80 Million Light-Years Away
The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope sees galaxies of all shapes, sizes, luminosities and orientations in the cosmos. Sometimes, the telescope gazes at a galaxy oriented sideways — as shown…
Black Holes Stunt Growth of Dwarf Galaxies – Astronomers Surprised by 2,000,000 MPH Winds
UC Riverside astronomers find large-scale winds associated with active black holes in small galaxies suppress star formation. Astronomers at the University of California, Riverside, have…
NASA’s Webb Telescope Will Penetrate Space Dust to Reveal Milky Way’s Center
The center of our galaxy is a crowded place: A black hole weighing 4 million times as much as our Sun is surrounded by millions…
Mystery As Hubble Finds Milky Way Raids Intergalactic ‘Bank Accounts’
Our Milky Way is a frugal galaxy. Supernovas and violent stellar winds blow gas out of the galactic disk, but that gas falls back onto…
The Milky Way Captured Several Tiny Galaxies From Its Neighbor
University of California Riverside-led research shows our galaxy is undergoing a massive merger with its largest satellite galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud. Just like the…
Liquifying a Rocky Exoplanet to Aid in the Search for Earth-Like Worlds Beyond Our Solar System
A hot, molten Earth would be around 5% larger than its solid counterpart. This is the result of a study led by researchers at the…
New Research Finally Provides Insights on How the Strongest Magnets in the Universe Form [Video]
German-British research team simulates basic conditions for the formation of magnetic stars. How do some neutron stars become the strongest magnets in the Universe? A…
At Edge of Solar System, Pressure Runs High – Greater Than Expected
Out at the boundary of our solar system, pressure runs high. This pressure, the force plasma, magnetic fields and particles like ions, cosmic rays and…
20 New Moons Discovered Orbiting Saturn – You Can Help Name Them [Video]
Move over Jupiter; Saturn is the new moon king. A team led by Carnegie’s Scott S. Sheppard has found 20 new moons orbiting Saturn. This…
NASA’s Curiosity Rover Finds a 100-Mile-Wide Ancient Oasis on Mars [Video]
If you could travel back in time 3.5 billion years, what would Mars look like? The picture is evolving among scientists working with NASA’s Curiosity…
Not Long Ago, the Center of the Milky Way Exploded – Cataclysmic Blast of Energy and Radiation
Researchers find evidence of a cataclysmic flare that punched so far out of the galaxy its impact was felt 200,000 light years away. A titanic,…
Astronomers Observe Two Young Suns Collecting Matter in a Binary System
Food for young twin stars: Astronomers observe how two suns collect matter in a binary system Stars are born in the midst of large clouds…
Hubble Space Telescope Finds Medusa in the Sky
The galaxy pictured in this Hubble image has an especially evocative name: the Medusa merger. Often referred to by its somewhat drier New General Catalogue…
A Cosmic Pretzel: Twin Baby Stars Grow Among a Twisting Network of Gas and Dust
Astronomers using ALMA have obtained an extremely high-resolution image showing two disks in which young stars are growing, fed by a complex pretzel-shaped network of…