A Small, Bright Surprise: Two Views of a Sungrazing Comet
When scientists downlinked data from Parker Solar Probe’s sixth orbit, there was a small, bright surprise waiting for them: the spacecraft’s first observation of a…
Astronomy
Hubble Captures Breathtaking View of the “Fireworks Galaxy”
The galaxy NGC 6946 is nothing short of spectacular. In the last century alone, NGC 6946 has experienced 10 observed supernovae, earning its nickname as…
Supermassive Black Hole’s Dust Ring May Be Casting Shadows From Heart of a Galaxy
Some of the most stunning views of our sky occur at sunset, when sunlight pierces the clouds, creating a mixture of bright and dark rays…
How Stars Form in Nearby Galaxies
How stars form in galaxies remains a major open question. Robert Feldmann sheds new light on this topic with the help of a data-driven re-analysis…
Stellar Snowflake Cluster Spotted by Spitzer Space Telescope
Newborn stars, hidden behind thick dust, are revealed in this image of a section of the so-called Christmas Tree Cluster from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope….
Quasars Rip Across Galaxies Like Tsunamis – The Most Energetic Outflows Ever Witnessed in the Universe
Using the unique capabilities of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, a team of astronomers has discovered the most energetic outflows ever witnessed in the universe. They…
Chaos Swirls at the Heart of the Orion Nebula
Gaseous swirls of hydrogen, sulfur, and hydrocarbons cradle a collection of infant stars in this composite image of the Orion Nebula, as seen by the Hubble Space…
NASA Skywatching Tips for January 2021
What are some skywatching highlights in January 2021? Mark Earth’s closest approach to the Sun for the year, called perihelion, at the start of the…
“Unprecedented” – Unusual Planetary Nebula Fades Mere Decades After It Arrived
Stars are rather patient. They can live for billions of years, and they typically make slow transitions — sometimes over many millions of years —…
Scientists Peer Into the 3D Structure of the Milky Way and Observe Star-Forming Processes in Unprecedented Detail
Survey of the sky pushes the boundaries of what we know about the structure of our galaxy. Scientists from Cardiff University have helped produce a…
NASA Approves Two Heliophysics Missions to Explore Sun, Earth’s Aurora
NASA has approved two heliophysics missions to explore the Sun and the system that drives space weather near Earth. Together, NASA’s contribution to the Extreme…
Acceleration of the Solar System Measured by the Gaia Space Telescope
The Gaia space telescope has measured the acceleration of the Solar System when it orbits the center of our Milky Way galaxy. The Solar System…
Don’t Miss Tonight’s Full Moon: The Wolf Moon
The Next Full Moon is the Wolf Moon, Ice Moon, Cold Moon, the Moon after Yule, the Long Night Moon, the Datta Jayanti Moon, Unduvap…
All Dark Matter in the Universe Could Be Primordial Black Holes – Formed From the Collapse of Baby Universes Soon After the Big Bang
The Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU) is home to many interdisciplinary projects which benefit from the synergy of…
Hubble Spots a Bright Bar of Light – What Is It?
The magnificent central bar of NGC 2217 (also known as AM 0619-271) shines bright in the constellation of Canis Major (The Greater Dog), in this…
Astrophysicists Discover Unfathomably Large Intergalactic Gas Filament
Study confirms models on the evolution of our universe. More than half of the matter in our universe has so far remained hidden from us….
AB Aur: A Rosetta Stone for Planet Formation
Planets are formed from the disk of gas and dust around a star, but the mechanisms for doing so are imperfectly understood. Gas is the…
Astrophysicists Unveil the Mystery of Fast Radio Bursts
UNLV astrophysicist Bing Zhang contributes to understanding the physical mechanisms of fast radio bursts in three papers published in Nature. Fast radio bursts, or FRBs…