Hubble Reveals Evidence of Active Nucleus Driving Hot Bubbles of Gas
3C196.1 is a massive elliptical galaxy, the brightest member of a cluster of galaxies about three billion light-years away that is notable for its strong…
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics News
Astronomers Reveal How Stellar Binaries Form
Most stars with the mass of the sun or larger have one or more companion stars, but when and how these multiple stars form is…
Astronomers Determine the Distance of the Cygnus Loop
The Cygnus Loop (also known as the Veil Nebula) is a supernova remnant, the detritus of the explosive death of a massive star about ten…
Astronomers Reveal Cold Molecular Gas Pumped by a Black Hole
Most galaxies lie in clusters containing from a few to thousands of other galaxies. Our Milky Way, for example, belongs to the Local Group cluster…
New Evidence on How Dust Production Alters Observed Starlight
Stellar variability has long offered insights into stars’ physical properties. The star Mira (Omicron Ceti), for example, was so-named in 1596 by Dutch astronomers who…
Light Echoes in Eta Carinae Nebula Reveal Two-Stage Shock-Powered Event
The young star Eta Carinae shines prominently in the skies of the southern hemisphere. Although located relatively far away from Earth (about seven thousand light-years…
Measuring the Age of the Universe With Gravitational Waves
The single most important puzzle in today’s cosmology (the study of the universe as a whole) can be summarized in one question: How old is…
Spitzer Observations of Interstellar Object ‘Oumuamua
One year ago this week astronomers discovered an unusual object moving through space not too far from the Earth’s orbit. In just a few days…
Is There a Relationship Between AGN and Star Formation?
Most galaxies host a supermassive black hole (SMBH) at their nucleus (a supermassive black hole is one whose mass exceeds a million solar masses). A…
Astronomers Measure Remarkable Flares from the Galactic Center
Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy, is 100 times closer to us than any other…
Astronomers Probe Four Newly Discovered Milky Way Neighbors
Ultra-faint, dwarf galaxies are the smallest, most dark matter dominated, and least chemically enriched stellar systems in the universe and are important targets for understanding…
NASA Extends Chandra X-Ray Observatory Operations
NASA has awarded a contract extension to the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to continue operations and science support for the agency’s Chandra…
Gaia Mission Helps Improve Classification Scheme for Exoplanet Sizes
There are about 4433 exoplanets in the latest catalogs. Their radii have generally been measured by knowing the radius of their host star and then…
Astronomers Reveal Some of the Earliest Galaxies in the Universe
Astronomers from Durham University and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) have found evidence that the faintest satellite galaxies orbiting our own Milky Way galaxy…
Gaia Satellite Refines Properties of Polaris Aa, Significantly Different Than Earlier Values
The North Star, Polaris, is a Cepheid variable: one whose mass, age and physical conditions generate periodic oscillations with a period proportional to the star’s…
Engineers Begin Excavation on Giant Magellan Telescope Site
GMTO Corporation (GMTO) today announced the start of hard rock excavation for the Giant Magellan Telescope’s massive concrete pier and the foundations for the telescope’s…
Astronomers Unravel the Spectral Energy Distributions of Clustered YSOs
About twenty-five percent of young stars in our galaxy form in clustered environments, and stars in a cluster are often close enough to each other…
Spitzer Observations of Binary Neutron Star Merger GW170817
GW170817 is the name given to a gravitational wave signal seen by the LIGO and Virgo detectors on August 17, 2017. Lasting for about 100…
