Martian Dust Storms Can Regenerate and Sustain Themselves
Dust is a critical component in the Martian atmosphere. It influences the atmosphere’s circulation by heating or cooling it and is in turn redistributed around…
Astronomy
New Class of ‘Cold Quasars’ Was Unknown Until Now
Astronomers have discovered a new class of “cold quasars” that could change our perception of how galaxies mature. The discovery was announced June 12 at…
Astronauts View an Aurora From the International Space Station
Aboard the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Christina Koch snapped this image of an aurora, saying: “Years ago at the South Pole, I looked up…
SOFIA Reveals What May Be Keeping Milky Way’s Black Hole Quiet
Supermassive black holes exist at the center of most galaxies, and our Milky Way is no exception. But many other galaxies have highly active black…
Inward Migration of Mimas Helped Shape Saturn’s Rings
The Solar System’s second largest planet both in mass and size, Saturn is best known for its rings. These are divided by a wide band,…
Hubble Image of the Week – An Explosive Galaxy
When massive stars die at the end of their short lives, they light up the cosmos with bright, explosive bursts of light and material known…
Scientists Trace Co-Evolution of Galaxies and Supermassive Black Holes
The formation and growth of galaxies in the early universe is a key research topic for future giant telescopes like the Giant Magellan Telescope and…
Scientists Solve the Mystery of the Galaxy with No Dark Matter
A group of researchers from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has clarified one of the mysteries of 2018 in the field of extragalactic…
View of Venus at Sunrise From the International Space Station
From the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Christina Koch snapped and posted this image of the planet Venus at sunrise. The blue glow of Earth’s…
Astronomers Discover Ring Around Milky Way’s Supermassive Black Hole
Through decades of study, astronomers have developed a clearer picture of the chaotic and crowded neighborhood surrounding the supermassive black hole at the center of…
Chandra Detects Coronal Mass Ejection From Distant Star
This artist’s illustration depicts a coronal mass ejection, or CME, which involves a large-scale expulsion of material, and have frequently been observed on our Sun….
How SPHERE Helps Protect Earth from Dangerous Asteroids
The unique capabilities of the SPHERE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope have enabled it to obtain the sharpest images of a double asteroid as…
Hubble Telescope Image of the Week – Galactic Maturity
This striking image was taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3, a powerful instrument installed on the telescope in 2009. WFC3…
Spitzer Space Telescope Captures Amazing Stellar Family Portrait
In this large celestial mosaic taken by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, there’s a lot to see, including multiple clusters of stars born from the same…
Map of the Entire Sky in X-Rays Recorded by NASA’s NICER
In this image, numerous sweeping arcs seem to congregate at various bright regions. You may wonder: What is being shown? Air traffic routes? Information moving…
Astronomers Discover ‘Forbidden’ Planet in the ‘Neptunian Desert’
A Neptunian planet has been found in what should be a ‘Neptunian Desert’ by telescopes run by the University of Warwick in an international collaboration…
Ancient Supernovae Prompted Human Ancestors to Walk Upright
Did ancient supernovae induce proto-humans to walk on two legs, eventually resulting in homo sapiens with hands free to build cathedrals, design rockets and snap…
Unique Experiments Will Study Cosmic Clashes and Their Mysterious Aftermath
What happens when two supermassive black holes collide? Combining the observing power of two future ESA missions, Athena and LISA, would allow us to study…