Mysterious Cosmic “Spider” Found To Be Source of Powerful Gamma-Rays
Investigated by the SOAR Telescope operated by NOIRLab, the binary system is the first to be found at the penultimate stage of its evolution. Using…
AURA News
Gemini Catches a Glowing One-Winged Butterfly
Resembling a butterfly with only one wing, this glowing nebula hides a budding star. This ethereal image, captured from Chile by the international Gemini Observatory,…
Ruins of Ancient Star Cluster Discovered at the Fringes of Our Galaxy
Gemini Observatory helps reveal that a stream of old stars at Milky Way’s edge is a shredded star cluster. A primordial stellar stream discovered in…
At Least 70 Free-Floating Planets Discovered in a Nearby Region of the Milky Way
The more than 70 sunless worlds are each roughly the mass of Jupiter. Using observations and archival data from several of NSF’s NOIRLab’s observatories, together…
Astronomers Capture a Doomed Galaxy Plunging Into a Galactic Furnace
The Víctor M. Blanco Telescope in Chile captures a doomed galaxy falling into the heart of the Fornax Cluster. The denizens of the Fornax galaxy…
Unlike Anything in Our Solar System: Rocky Exoplanets Are Even Stranger Than We Thought
A new astrogeology study suggests that most nearby rocky exoplanets are quite unlike anything in our Solar System. An astronomer from NSF’s NOIRLab has teamed…
Fastest Orbiting Asteroid Discovered Using the Powerful 570-Megapixel Dark Energy Camera
About a kilometer across, space rock 2021 PH27 is the Sun’s nearest neighbor. Using the powerful 570-megapixel Dark Energy Camera (DECam) in Chile, astronomers recently…
Astronomers Discover Surprising Cause of a “Fizzled” Gamma-Ray Burst
Astronomers Uncover Briefest Supernova-Powered Gamma-Ray Burst Gemini North identifies collapsing star as the surprising cause of a “fizzled” gamma-ray burst. Astronomers have discovered the shortest-ever…
By Jove! Stunning New Images Show Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, Superstorms, and Gargantuan Cyclones
Stunning new images of Jupiter from Gemini North and the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope showcase the planet at infrared, visible, and ultraviolet wavelengths of light….
Unusual Comet – 1000 Times More Massive Than Typical – Discovered in Outer Solar System by Dark Energy Survey
Estimated to be 100–200 kilometers across, the unusual wandering body will make its closest approach to the Sun in 2031. A giant comet from the…
Are We Missing Other Earths? Dramatic New Evidence Uncovered by Astronomers
Astronomers studying stellar pairs uncover evidence that there could be many more Earth-sized planets than previously thought. Some exoplanet searches could be missing nearly half…
Exploring 7 Billion Light Years of Space With the Dark Energy Survey – Most Precise Look at the Universe’s Evolution
Dark Energy Survey Releases Most Precise Look at the Universe’s Evolution First three years of survey data uses observations of 226 million galaxies over ⅛…
Black Hole Pairs Found in Distant Merging Galaxies Provide Crucial Insight Into the Early Universe
Gemini North spectroscopically resolves a pair of quasars that are closer together than any yet discovered in the distant Universe. Astronomers have found two close…
“Failed Stars” Caught Speeding: Astronomers Clock the Fastest-Spinning Brown Dwarfs
Astronomers at Western University have discovered the most rapidly rotating brown dwarfs known. They found three brown dwarfs that each complete a full rotation roughly…
Doubling the Number of Known Gravitational Lenses Using Artificial Intelligence
Machine learning key to discovery of over 1200 gravitational lenses. Data from the DESI (Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument) Legacy Imaging Surveys have revealed over 1200…
Mysteries of the Milky Way Are Revealed in Spectacular Detail
Astronomers are Bulging with Data Star-studded image shows the glittering central parts of the Milky Way For the first time, over 250 million stars in…
Camera Designed to Reveal the Deepest Secrets of Our Universe Captures the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy in Glorious Detail
The Spiral of the Southern Pinwheel The Dark Energy Camera (DECam), which was originally designed for the Dark Energy Survey, has captured one of the…
“Farfarout” Indeed: Planetoid Confirmed to Be Solar System’s Most Distant Known Object
Gemini North helps define remote object’s distance and orbit. With the help of the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab, and other ground-based…
