Hubble Spies a Galactic Gem: Unusual Multi-Armed Galaxy Merger
Galaxy CGCG 396-2, an unusual multi-armed galaxy merger that lies around 520 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Orion, is captured in this stunning…
Astronomy
Astronomer Says New Webb Space Telescope Images “Almost Brought Him to Tears”
The scientific and astronomical communities are eagerly waiting for Tuesday, July 12th, to come around. That is the day when NASA promises to release the…
Unusual Fossil Galaxy Discovered on Outskirts of Andromeda – Could Reveal History of the Universe
Gemini North telescope reveals a relict of the earliest galaxies. A unique ultra-faint dwarf galaxy has been discovered on the outer fringes of the Andromeda…
Hubble Spots Turquoise Seas in the Large Magellanic Cloud
In this Hubble Space Telescope image from 2014, brightly glowing plumes of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) appear almost like an ocean current with turquoise-tinted currents and nebulous…
Is Something Else Hidden at the Center of the Milky Way?
Precise Insights into the Supermassive Black Hole in the Milky Way’s Heart Astronomers use Gemini Observatory and an international telescope collaboration to shed light on…
Another Primary Webb Space Telescope Instrument Gets the “Go for Science”
Recently, NIRISS, one of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s four primary scientific instruments concluded its postlaunch preparations and was declared ready for science. Now a…
Auroras Incoming? Giant Sunspot Has Doubled in Size and Is Pointed Right at Earth
Sunspots are usually not a cause for concern, even if they double in size overnight and grow to be twice the size of the Earth…
Astronomy & Astrophysics 101: Dark Matter
What is Dark Matter? Dark matter is a form of matter that cannot currently be observed directly, but is estimated to comprise about 85% of…
Long-Term Liquid Water – Required for Life – Could Exist on Planets That Are Very Different From Earth
Liquid water is an important prerequisite for life to develop on a planet. As researchers report in a new study, liquid water could also exist…
Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies: Strong-Arming a Galaxy
The pumped-up arm of the lopsided spiral galaxy NGC 772 dominates this image captured by the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab. The…
One of Webb Space Telescope’s Primary Instruments Ready To See Cosmos in Over 2,000 Infrared Colors
One of the James Webb Space Telescope’s four primary scientific instruments, known as NIRISS, has concluded its postlaunch preparations and is now ready for science….
Capturing Images and Spectra From Celestial Objects: The Modes of the Webb Space Telescope’s NIRISS
The Webb Space Telescope team continues to commission the 17 science instrument modes. They recently asked Nathalie Ouellette of the Université de Montréal to give…
BepiColombo Spacecraft Makes Second Gravity Assist of Planet Mercury – Captures Spectacular Close-Ups
The ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission has made its second gravity assist of planet Mercury, capturing new close-up images as it steers closer towards Mercury orbit in…
Hubble Captures a Glittering Hoard in an Astronomical Treasure Trove
The sparkling globular cluster NGC 6569 in the constellation Sagittarius is captured in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble explored the heart…
Mysterious Star Survives a Thermonuclear Supernova Explosion
A Tenacious Star Validates a Revised Model of Supernovae A supernova is the cataclysmic explosion of a star. Thermonuclear supernovae, in particular, signal the complete…
Astronomers Combine the Power of 64 Telescopes To Observe the Structure of the Universe
An international team of astronomers has combined the power of 64 radio telescope dishes for the first time to detect the faint signatures of neutral…
Hear the Eerie Sounds of Nebula NGC 2392
About 5,000 light-years from Earth, the stunning nebula NGC 2392 formed after the demise of a star like our Sun. In this sonification, the image…
Searching for Cosmic X-Ray Signposts of Elusive Continuous Gravitational Waves
In the last few years, astronomers have achieved an incredible milestone: the detection of gravitational waves, vanishingly weak ripples in the fabric of space and…
