Astronomers create new microwave map of the Milky Way and beyond
Color shows the polarized microwave emission measured by QUIJOTE. The pattern of lines superposed shows the direction of the magnetic field lines. Credit: The QUIJOTE Collaboration An international…
How did the Butterfly Nebula get its wings? It’s complicated
A color rendition of NGC 6302, the Butterfly Nebula, created from black-and-white exposures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2019 and 2020. In the violet-colored regions, strong…
Astronomers begin to understand strange ‘backsplash’ galaxies
The galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 as seen by NIRCam on JWST. It’s gravitational lensing properties (from its mass and from the mass of dark matter) are helping astronomers…
Newly discovered green comet expected to whiz by Earth
Credit: CC0 Public Domain A rare, recently discovered comet with a greenish tint is expected to whiz by Earth over the next few weeks, but sky gazers may…
Astronomers spot an orphaned protostar
The HH 24 Complex. Credit: Reipurth et al. Astronomers have performed an impressive suite of observations at multiple wavelengths of the same system, dubbed the HH 24 complex….
Hubble finds hungry black hole twisting captured star into donut shape
This sequence of artist’s illustrations shows how a black hole can devour a bypassing star. 1. A normal star passes near a supermassive black hole in the center…
Images capture 850-year-old aftermath of stellar collision
The unusual fireworks-like structure of nebula Pa 30 may result from the merger of two dying stars. Credit: Robert Fesen A Dartmouth professor’s images of the explosive aftermath…
How was the solar system formed? The Ryugu asteroid is helping us learn
Credit: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Mineral samples collected from the Ryugu asteroid by the Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft are helping UCLA space scientists and colleagues better understand the…
Stellar initial mass function varies with metallicity and age of stars, say astronomers
New research reveals that the mass of newly born stars (yellow, orange, and red circles stand for stars from higher to lower mass) varies with their metal abundances…
Billions of celestial objects revealed in gargantuan survey of the Milky Way
This image, which is brimming with stars and dark dust clouds, is a small extract—a mere pinprick—of the full Dark Energy Camera Plane Survey (DECaPS2) of the Milky…
How supermassive fuel-hungry black holes feed off intergalactic gas
Two interacting galaxies viewed from the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: NASA/ESA/Hubble Heritage Team Research led by the University of Southampton has revealed how supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are…
NASA’s Fermi detects first gamma-ray eclipses from ‘spider’ star systems
Many of Earth’s volatiles came from beyond Jupiter. Credit: Shutterstock/NASA Meteorites have told Imperial researchers the likely far-flung origin of Earth’s volatile chemicals, some of which form the…