Astronomy News

July 10, 2016

Dawn Maps Ceres Craters Where There May Be Ice

Why Galaxies Stop Creating Stars

Surprising Planet Has 3 Suns

Beating Heart of the Crab Nebula

Latest Headlines

updated 12:09pm EDT

Astronomers Find Evidence for ‘direct Collapse’ Black Hole

July 7, 2016 — Astronomers have discovered evidence for an unusual kind of black hole born extremely early in the universe. They showed that a recently discovered unusual source of intense ... read more

Earth-Size Telescope Tracks the Aftermath of a Star Being Swallowed by a Supermassive Black Hole

July 6, 2016 — Radio astronomers have used a radio telescope network the size of the Earth to zoom in on a unique phenomenon in a distant ... read more

Astronomers Find Evidence of Water Clouds in First Spectrum of Coldest Brown Dwarf

July 6, 2016 — Since its detection in 2014, the brown dwarf known as WISE 0855 has fascinated astronomers. Only 7.2 light-years from Earth, ... read more

A New Look at the Galaxy-Shaping Power of Black Holes

July 6, 2016 — Data from a now-defunct satellite is providing new insights into the complex tug-of-war between galaxies, the hot plasma that surrounds them, and the giant black holes that ... read more

Chemical Trail on Saturn's Moon Titan May Be Key to Prebiotic Conditions

July 6, 2016 — Scientists have uncovered a chemical trail that suggests prebiotic conditions may exist on Saturn's largest moon Titan. This moon features terrain with Earthlike attributes ... read more

Let There Be Light: Super Bright Galaxies of the Early Universe

July 5, 2016 — Astronomers have shed further light on the evolution of the early Universe with the discovery of a "team" of super ... read more

NASA's Juno Spacecraft in Orbit Around Mighty Jupiter

July 5, 2016 — After an almost five-year journey to the solar system's largest planet, NASA's Juno spacecraft successfully entered Jupiter's orbit during a 35-minute engine burn. With its ... read more

A Giant Impact: Solving the Mystery of How Mars' Moons Formed

July 4, 2016 — Where did the two natural satellites of Mars, Phobos and Deimos, come from? For a long time, their shape suggested that they were asteroids captured by Mars. However, the ... read more

Alma Finds a Swirling, Cool Jet That Reveals a Growing, Supermassive Black Hole

July 4, 2016 — Astronomers have made the surprising discovery of a jet of cool, dense gas in the center of a galaxy located 70 million ... read more

In the Blink of a Cosmic Eye: Chance Microlensing Events Probe Galactic Cores

June 30, 2016 — Some galaxies pump out vast amounts of energy from a very small volume of space, typically not much bigger than our own ... read more

Three Astronauts Blast Off for ISS in Upgraded Soyuz Craft

Astronomers Discovered An Exoplanet Stuck Between 3 Suns

China Is About Ready To Look For Aliens After Relocating 9,000 Humans

NASA's Space Probe Juno Finally Made It To Jupiter

Spiderweb Galaxy: Watery Dew Drops Surrounding Dusty Spider’s Web

July 1, 2016 — Astronomers have spotted glowing droplets of condensed water in the distant Spiderweb Galaxy -- but not where they expected to find them. Detections show that the water is located far out in the ... read more

Teenagers on a Work Experience 'Discover' New Planet

July 1, 2016 — A group of teenagers on work experience at Keele University in Staffordshire, UK, may have discovered a new ... read more

NASA’s Juno and JEDI: Ready to Unlock Mysteries of Jupiter

July 1, 2016 — The JEDI is one of several instruments aboard NASA's Juno spacecraft -- set to enter Jupiter orbit on July 4 -- that will help scientists answer fundamental questions about the solar ... read more

Gravitational Lens Zooms in on Why Some Quasars Have the Radio Turned Down

June 30, 2016 — Mini-jets of material ejected from a central supermassive black hole appear to be the culprits behind faint radio wave emissions in ‘radio-quiet’ quasars. A study of gravitationally-lensed images ... read more

Autolens Analysis Steps Up for Euclid’s 100,000 Strong Gravitational Lens Challenge

June 30, 2016 — Euclid satellite, due for launch in 2020, will set astronomers a huge challenge: to analyze one hundred thousand strong gravitational lenses. The gravitational deflection of light from distant ... read more

Jupiter on a Bench: Spacecraft Juno Nears Planet Orbit

June 30, 2016 — Earlier this year, in an experiment about five-feet long, researchers say they observed evidence of the abrupt transition of hydrogen from liquid insulator to liquid metal. It is one of the first ... read more

The Energy Spectrum of Particles Will Help Make out Black Holes

June 30, 2016 — Scientists have devised a method of distinguishing black holes from compact massive objects that are externally indistinguishable from one another. The method involves studying the energy spectrum of ... read more

Hubble Captures Vivid Auroras in Jupiter’s Atmosphere

June 30, 2016 — Astronomers are using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to study auroras -- stunning light shows in a planet's atmosphere -- on the poles of the largest planet in the Solar System, ... read more

Chaotic Orbit of Comet Halley Explained

June 30, 2016 — Astronomers have found an explanation for the chaotic behavior of the orbit of Halley's ... read more

Surface of Mercury Arose from Deep Inside the Planet

June 29, 2016 — Researchers have found that several volcanic deposits on Mercury's surface require mantle melting to have started close to the planet's core-mantle boundary, which lies only 400 km below ... read more

How Planetary Age Reveals Water Content

June 29, 2016 — Water is necessary for life as we know it, but too much water is bad for habitability. Therefore, to study the habitability of extrasolar planets, determining the abundance of water is a key element. ... read more

Tracking Solar Eruptions in 3D

June 29, 2016 — Scientists have developed an automated method for three-dimensional tracking of massive eruptions from the Sun, called Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs). The Automated CME Triangulation (ACT) system uses ... read more

Space Team Discovers Universe Is Self-Cleaning

June 29, 2016 — Astronomers have released a catalog of the hidden universe, which reveals the unseen sources of energy found over the last 12 billion years of cosmic ... read more

Hubble Reveals Stellar Fireworks in 'Skyrocket' Galaxy

June 28, 2016 — A new Hubble Space Telescope image shows a firestorm of star birth lighting up one end of the diminutive galaxy Kiso 5639. The dwarf galaxy is shaped like a flattened pancake, but because it is ... read more

‘Building Blocks for Life' May Originate in Space

June 28, 2016 — Amino acids are the building blocks for life on earth. They may originate in space and reach the earth via comets and ... read more

Rotating Ring of Complex Organic Molecules Discovered Around Newborn Star: Chemical Diversity in Planet Forming Regions Unveiled

June 28, 2016 — Researchers have discovered a rotating ring containing large organic molecules around a protostar. This observation definitively shows that organic materials formed in interstellar space are brought ... read more