A Cosmic First: Astronomers Uncover a Planet-Forming Disc in Another Galaxy
Using the ALMA telescope, astronomers have detected a disc forming around a young star in the Large Magellanic Cloud, marking the first discovery of its…
Very Large Telescope News
Find the latest astronomy and astrophysics news out of the ESO VLT on SciTechDaily.com. Operated by the European Southern Observatory on Cerro Paranal in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, the Very Large Telescope array (VLT) is a visible and infrared wavelength telescope facility. It is the world’s most advanced optical instrument, consisting of four Unit Telescopes with main mirrors of 8.2m diameter and four movable 1.8m diameter Auxiliary Telescopes. The four separate optical telescopes are known as Antu, Kueyen, Melipal, and Yepun, which are all words for astronomical objects in the Mapuche language. The telescopes can work together, to form a giant ‘interferometer,’ the ESO Very Large Telescope Interferometer, allowing astronomers to see details up to 25 times finer than with the individual telescopes.
The Genesis of Jupiters: Incredible New Image Reveals Secrets of Planet Birth
A spectacular new image released by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) gives us clues about how planets as massive as Jupiter could form. Using ESO’s…
Pinwheel Firework: Stunning Telescope Image Captures Grand Design Spiral Galaxy
This stunning image clearly displays the well-defined arms of the spiral galaxy NGC 4254, also known as the Coma Pinwheel or Messier 99. Because of…
Astronomers Discover Micronovae: A New Kind of Thermonuclear Stellar Explosion
A team of astronomers, with the help of the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT), has observed a new type of stellar explosion…
Asteroid Discovered With Three Moons!
Planets aren’t the only celestial objects with moons – asteroids can have them too. They are usually other, smaller asteroids in orbit around a larger…
New Planet Discovered Next Door – Orbiting Proxima Centauri
In August of 2016, astronomers with the European Southern Observatory (ESO) announced that they had discovered an exoplanet orbiting in neighboring Proxima Centauri. Based on…
Mysterious Galactic Nomads: At Least 70 Rogue Planets Uncovered in Our Milky Way
Rogue planets are elusive cosmic objects that have masses comparable to those of the planets in our Solar System but do not orbit a star,…
Surprise Planet Discovered Around Extreme Star Pair
The European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) has captured an image of a planet orbiting b Centauri, a two-star system that can be…
Supermassive Black Holes on a Collision Course: Closest Pair of Supermassive Black Holes to Earth Ever Discovered
Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT), astronomers have revealed the closest pair of supermassive black holes to Earth ever observed. The…
Astronomers Spot a Moon-Forming Disk Around a Super-Jupiter Exoplanet
Recently, astronomers have been finding protoplanetary discs around certain stars. Their discovery has helped kick off a new work in planetary formation theory. But planets…
Part of the Universe’s Missing Matter Found Thanks to Very Large Telescope
Galaxies exchange matter with their external environment thanks to galactic winds. The MUSE instrument from the Very Large Telescope has, for the very first time,…
Strange 160 Mile-Long “Dog-Bone” Asteroid Kleopatra Captured in Detailed Images
Using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT), a team of astronomers has obtained the sharpest and most detailed images yet of the…
Astronomers Find Small Rocky Planet – Just Half the Mass of Venus
A team of astronomers has used the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) in Chile to shed new light on planets around a…
Stunning Galactic Fireworks: New ESO Images Reveal Spectacular Features of Nearby Galaxies
A team of astronomers has released new observations of nearby galaxies that resemble colorful cosmic fireworks. The images, obtained with the European Southern Observatory’s Very…
Bursting the Hubble Bubble: Powerful Ground-Based Telescope Will See Farther and Clearer Than Hubble Space Telescope
Australian scientists will help construct one of the world’s most powerful ground-based telescopes that promises to see farther and clearer than the Hubble Space Telescope…
First Images of the Cosmic Web Reveal Unsuspected Presence of Billions of Dwarf Galaxies
In the Universe, galaxies are distributed along extremely tenuous filaments of gas millions of light years long separated by voids, forming the cosmic web. The…
Mysterious Interstellar Visitor May Be the Most Pristine Comet Ever Found
New observations with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (ESO’s VLT) indicate that the rogue comet 2I/Borisov, which is only the second and most…
New Clues About Early Universe From Black Hole Powered Cosmic Jet 13 Billion Light-Years From Earth
Quasar also can serve as ‘beacon’ for studying closer objects. Astronomers using the National Science Foundation’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) and Very…