Astrophysicists Predict Milky Way is Headed For Catastrophic Collision
New research led by astrophysicists at Durham University, UK, predicts that the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) could hit the Milky Way in two billion years’…
Astronomy
Chandra Detects Circumnuclear Molecular Torus of AGN in NGC 5643
Most galaxies host supermassive black holes at their nuclei, each with millions or billions of solar-masses of material. There is thought to be a torus…
New Ultima Thule Discoveries from New Horizons Spacecraft
Data from NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, which explored Kuiper Belt object Ultima Thule earlier this week, is yielding scientific discoveries daily. Among the findings made…
New Horizons Reaches Most Distant Target in History
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft flew past Ultima Thule in the early hours of New Year’s Day, ushering in the era of exploration from the enigmatic…
OSIRIS-REx Spacecraft Enters Close Orbit Around Bennu
At 2:43 p.m. EST on December 31, while many on Earth prepared to welcome the New Year, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, 70 million miles (110 million…
Kuiper Belt Object Ultima Thule Reveals First Stages of Solar System’s History
Scientists from NASA’s New Horizons mission released the first detailed images of the most distant object ever explored — the Kuiper Belt object nicknamed Ultima…
Hubble Image of the Week – The Smoking Gun of a Newborn Star
In this image the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured the smoking gun of a newborn star, the Herbig–Haro objects numbered 7 to 11 (HH…
PulChron System Measures Time Using Radio Pulses From Neutron Stars
ESA’s technical centre in the Netherlands has begun running a pulsar-based clock. The ‘PulChron’ system measures the passing of time using millisecond-frequency radio pulses from…
Stepping Inside Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A
Cassiopeia A, the youngest known supernova remnant in the Milky Way, is the remains of a star that exploded almost 400 years ago. The star…
Astronomers Capture Dramatic Details of Turbulent Stellar Relationship
While testing a new subsystem on the SPHERE planet-hunting instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope, astronomers were able to capture dramatic details of the turbulent…
Hubble Reveals Ancient Glimmering Ball of Stars, NGC 1466
This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reveals an ancient, glimmering ball of stars called NGC 1466. It is a globular cluster — a…
Astronomers Discover Intermediate Mass Black Holes in Galactic Nuclei
The existence of black holes is well established, and observations have found both stellar mass sized objects and giant ones millions to billions times more…
Lucy Navigates NASA’s First Mission to the Trojan Asteroids
In science fiction, explorers can hop in futuristic spaceships and traverse half the galaxy in the blink of a plot hole. However, this sidelines the…
Festive Hubble Image Resembles a Holiday Wreath
This festive NASA Hubble Space Telescope image resembles a holiday wreath made of sparkling lights. The bright southern hemisphere star RS Puppis, at the center…
Hubble Images – A Step Toward Illuminating The Elusive Nature of Dark Matter
A new look at Hubble images of galaxies could be a step toward illuminating the elusive nature of dark matter, the unobservable material that makes…
Astronomers Discover A New Class of Super-Earths
Researchers at the Universities of Zurich and Cambridge have discovered a new, exotic class of planets outside our solar system. These super-Earths were formed at…
Scientists View Adolescent Star Undergoing a ‘Growth Spurt’
Astronomers have discovered a young star undergoing a rare growth spurt – giving a fascinating glimpse into the development of these distant stellar objects. A…
New Research Suggests That Sugar Molecules Exist in Deep Space
When we think of sugar, it’s in the form of a holiday sweet or a reason to head back to gym after New Year’s Eve…