Items tagged with astronomy
A team of astronomers shared new images captured by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) of the iconic Ring Nebula known as Messier 57 (M57). The awe-inspiring images highlight the nebula's labyrinthine allure in astonishing detail. It's like something out of a science-fiction movie.
Ms57 is a planetary nebula...
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An international team of astronomers has discovered a new type of stellar object that challenges how the physics of neutron stars are understood. The deep space object that has them questioning themselves is an extremely rare type of star with an immensely strong magnetic field producing incredibly powerful bursts of...
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A Jupiter-like planet has escaped what should have been certain death at the hands of its sun. Exoplanet 8 UMi b, named Halla, which closely orbits its host star Baekdu, survived a period of murderous stellar transition that would have typically consumed and annihilated close-in planets.
Our very own Sun will one...
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Stargazers will be able to view a rare alignment of five planets in the night sky Saturday morning. Mercury, Uranus, Jupiter, Neptune, and Saturn will all be visible just before sunrise.
While planets aligning in the starry night sky are not unusual, having five of them perfectly align at the same time is a rarer...
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An international team of astronomers has discovered the second-ever multiplanetary circumbinary system, giving Star Wars fans more hope that one day they might be able to travel to a Tatooine-like planet. The newly found planet, BEBOP-1c, joins TOI-1338b, which was discovered in the same system in 2020.
A...
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Heads up! On March 28th, five planets will be putting on a rare celestial show in a parade of planets, with guest appearances by the moon and start cluster Messier 35.
Tuesday March 28th will see Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Uranus, and Venus (plus Earth, if you want to include Terra Firma) lined up for an infrequent...
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A new study proposes how Earth's evil twin, Venus, may have once been habitable for a brief amount of time in its past. Researchers suggest that Venus has more than likely been uninhabitable for over 70% of its history, which is four times longer than others have estimated.
Modern-day Venus is a toxic mess of a...
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Astronomers using the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile discovered a Jupiter-like exoplanet in the AF Leporis system. The system is said to be similar to our own Solar System, with a star roughly the same mass, size, and temperatures as the Sun.
Two groups of astronomers took on the task of studying star catalogs...
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A group of scientists have proposed evidence that black holes are what produce dark energy. The new work potentially means nothing needs to be added to what we already know about the Universe to account for dark energy, in that black holes along with Einstein's gravity are the source.
The team of 17 researchers...
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Astronomers spotted an unexpected trail in the gas surrounding a dwarf galaxy while using the Hubble Space Telescope. During the team's observations, a trail of an ejected supermassive black hole is believed to have been detected. The light emitting from the trail traveled more than 7.5 billion years to reach Earth...
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A team of astronomers has discovered a rare Earth-mass exoplanet orbiting in the habitable zone of a star. Exoplanet Wolf 1069 b and the star it orbits, Wolf 1069, are located approximately 31 light-years from Earth.
Finding an exoplanet that is within the habitable zone of a nearby star is exceptionally difficult...
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A Northwestern University astrophysicist has produced a stunning video of four planets dancing around their sun. The tantalizing planetary dance was made using observations over a 12-year period.
The four exoplanets tripping the light fantastic were among the first ever to be directly imaged, a discovery made in...
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Some nighttime sky watchers will be privy to seeing a lunar occultation tonight, as the Moon passes in front of Mars. While the viewing of the occultation will be limited, many others will still be able to witness a conjunction or close approach of the pair of celestial objects.
A lunar occultation happens when the...
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Astronomers utilizing the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) in India, have detected a signal with a lookback time of a phenomenal 8.8 billion years. The radio signal originated from the most distant galaxy so far at a specific wavelength known as the 21 cm line. This is the first instance a radio signal of this...
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New research indicates that something is awry within the Butterfly Nebula, also known as NGC 6302. A team of astronomers at the University of Washington found "dramatic changes in the material within the wings," after comparing two pictures captured by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in 2009 and 2020. The team shared...
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A team of scientists has unveiled the secret to a burping black hole with the Green Bank Telescope (GBT). The new study reveals new information about mysterious radio bubbles surrounding a supermassive black hole.
Supermassive black holes are tremendously dense objects buried in the hearts of galaxies, while...
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Skywatchers will be able to view all the planets in our Solar System on the same night. Those wanting to get an early sneak peek can join a live broadcast by The Virtual Telescope Project 2.0 later today.
December has been chock full of celestial events for skywatchers to enjoy. Those who love to admire the Moon...
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A team of astronomers has detected evidence that two exoplanets 218 light-years from Earth are "water worlds." The two planets orbit a red dwarf star in the constellation Lyra, unlike any planets in our solar system.
According to a newly published research paper, two exoplanets, which are about one and a half times...
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NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) captured a stunning image of one of the first medium-deep wide-field images of the cosmos, including a region of the sky known as the North Ecliptic Pole. The image is part of the Prime Extragalactic Areas for Reionization and Lensing Science (PEARLS) GTO program.
A...
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An international team of researchers is calling a stunning fireball from the most distant region of the Solar System a game changer. The meteor that was spotted over Alberta, Canada last year is challenging the currently favored Solar System formation models.
The Oort Cloud is a group of celestial bodies that begin...
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In order to celebrate the release of it's asteroid toolkit, the European Space Agency (ESA) has issued a challenge to find a mystery asteroid. The Christmas asteroid poses no threat to Earth, but the agency says it does not know much about 2015 RN35, which presents an opportunity for learning more about...
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The cosmos' holiday gift of the Geminid meteor shower is upon us, with its peak on December 14, 2022. During the peak, skywatchers can hopefully expect 30-40 meteors per hour in the Northern Hemisphere, and up to 150 if one is lucky enough to have perfect weather conditions for viewing.
The Geminid meteor shower...
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