Forget Star Wars – See a Real Life “Star Destroyer” in Action
For the first time, astronomers have witnessed the immediate aftermath of a star being violently ripped apart by a supermassive black hole. The observations were…
Carnegie Institution for Science News
Astronomers Discover Most-Distant Object Ever Observed In Our Solar System
A team of astronomers has discovered the most-distant body ever observed in our Solar System. It is the first known Solar System object that has…
Stellar ‘Swarms’ Help Scientists Understand the Evolution of Stars
New work from Carnegie’s Jonathan Gagné and the American Museum of Natural History’s Jacqueline Faherty identified nearly a thousand potential members and 31 confirmed members…
Astronomers Discover a Dozen New Moons Around Jupiter, Including One ‘Oddball’
Twelve new moons orbiting Jupiter have been found—11 “normal” outer moons, and one that they’re calling an “oddball.” This brings Jupiter’s total number of known…
Scientists Determine Detailed Chemical Abundances of Star Ross 128
Last autumn, the world was excited by the discovery of an exoplanet called Ross 128 b, which is just 11 light years away from Earth….
Plasma-Spewing Quasar Shines Light on Early Galaxy Formation
Carnegie’s Eduardo Bañados led a team that found a quasar with the brightest radio emission ever observed in the early universe, due to it spewing…
Wind and Solar Power Could Generate Most But Not All of the Electricity in the USA
Wind and solar power could generate most but not all electricity in the United States, according to an analysis of 36 years of weather data…
Astronomers Measure Temperature Shift in Brown Dwarfs for the First Time
Brown dwarfs, the larger cousins of giant planets, undergo atmospheric changes from cloudy to cloudless as they age and cool. A team of astronomers led…
Water on the Moon Raises Questions About Its Origin Story
It’s amazing what a difference a little water can make. The Moon formed between about 4.4 and 4.5 billion years ago when an object collided…
New ALMA Discovery Raises Questions About the Habitability of Proxima b
Space weather emitted by Proxima Centauri, the star closest to our sun, may make that system rather inhospitable to life after all. Using data from…
Astronomers Unlock the Mysteries of Super-Earths
A star about 100 light-years away in the Pisces constellation, GJ 9827, hosts what may be one of the most massive and dense super-Earth planets…
Carbon-Rich Stardust Grains Unlock Astrophysical Mysteries
Dust is everywhere — not just in your attic or under your bed, but also in outer space. To astronomers, dust can be a nuisance…
Oxygen-Rich Iron Reservoirs Could Have Played a Crucial Role in the Creation of Life
A new study from the Carnegie Institution For Science shows that reservoirs of oxygen-rich iron between the Earth’s core and mantle could have played a…
Dataset of 1,600 Nearby Stars Available to the Public
Carnegie Institution for Science has made a huge dataset of 1,600 nearby stars available to the public so they can help find signs of new…
Astronomers Discover Potential New Hunting Ground for Exoplanets
A group of citizen scientists and professional astronomers have discovered a star surrounded by the oldest known circumstellar disk — a primordial ring of gas…
The Interior Chemistry of Distant Planet’s May Differ from Earth
New research suggests that magnesium peroxide may be abundant in extremely oxidized mantles and cores of rocky planets outside our Solar System. As astronomers continue…
Flat-Slab Subduction in South America Mirrors Formation of Rocky Mountains
For the first time, Yale University geophysicists are getting to look at a geological process in South America that mirrors the formation of America’s Rocky…
New Surface Composition Maps of Mercury Provide Clues to the Planet’s History
Using data from the MESSENGER spacecraft, scientists reveal previously unrecognized geochemical terranes of Mercury. Two new papers from members of the MESSENGER Science Team provide…