Space Telescopes News

September 25, 2016

Exploring the Early Universe

Hubble Finds Planet Orbiting Pair of Stars

Twin Jets Pinpoint Heart of an Active Galaxy

Monster Hydrogen Blob Seen in Space

Latest Headlines

updated 5:13am EDT

Colorful Demise of a Sun-Like Star

Sep. 23, 2016 — Our sun will eventually burn out and shroud itself with stellar debris, but not for another 5 ... read more

In Rotating Galaxies, Distribution of Normal Matter Precisely Determines Gravitational Acceleration

Sep. 21, 2016 — Researchers have found a significant new relationship in spiral and irregular galaxies: the acceleration observed in rotation curves tightly ... read more

New Ways to Track Stars Eaten by Black Holes

Sep. 19, 2016 — Astrophysicists have broken new ground in ways to observe a star swallowed by a black hole, promising to help paint a clearer picture of this ... read more

Unusual Short Burst of X-Rays Coming from Slowest-Spinning Neutron Star

Sep. 19, 2016 — A new record-holder for the slowest spinning neutron star has been found thanks to clues first detected by NASA's Swift space observatory. Spinning neutron stars are the ... read more

Astronomers Capture Best View Ever of Disintegrating Comet

Sep. 15, 2016 — Astronomers have captured the sharpest, most detailed observations of a comet breaking apart 67 million miles from Earth, using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The images ... read more

Starving Black Hole Returns Brilliant Galaxy to the Shadows

Sep. 15, 2016 — Many galaxies are found to have an extremely bright core powered by a supermassive black hole. These cores make "active galaxies" some of the brightest objects in the ... read more

X-Ray Detection Sheds New Light on Pluto

Sep. 14, 2016 — Scientists using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have made the first detections of X-rays from Pluto. These observations offer new insight into the space environment ... read more

Analysis of the Impact of Solar Activity on Radio Signals in the Atmosphere Boosted by New Research

Sep. 14, 2016 — The assessment of the impact of solar activity on radio signals in the atmosphere has been boosted by a new measurement method, report ... read more

Astronomers Shed Light on Different Galaxy Types

Sep. 14, 2016 — Scientists have taken a critical step towards understanding why different types of galaxies exist throughout the Universe. The research, made possible by cutting-edge ... read more

Astronomers Observe Star Reborn in a Flash

Sep. 13, 2016 — Astronomers using Hubble have been able to study stellar evolution in real time. Over a period of 30 years dramatic increases in the temperature of the star SAO 244567 have ... read more

A Possible Sign of Alien Life?

Sky-High Pic Du Midi Offers Tourists Stellar Views

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

China to Hunt for Alien Life With Giant Telescope

Explaining Why the Universe Can Be 'Transparent': Universe's Reionization Is Based on a Galaxy's Dust Content

Sep. 12, 2016 — Scientists can explain why the universe has enough energy to become transparent. The study marks the first quantitative study of how the gas content within galaxies scales with the amount of ... read more

Hubble Discovers Rare Fossil Relic of Early Milky Way

Sep. 7, 2016 — A fossilized remnant of the early Milky Way harboring stars of hugely different ages has been revealed by an international team of astronomers. This stellar system resembles a globular cluster, but ... read more

The Supernova That Wasn't: A Tale of Three Cosmic Eruptions

Sep. 2, 2016 — Long-term observations with the Hubble Space Telescope revealed that Eta Carinae, a very massive star system that has puzzled astronomers since it erupted in a supernova-like event in the mid 19th ... read more

First Stars Formed Even Later Than Previously Thought

Sep. 2, 2016 — ESA's Planck satellite has revealed that the first stars in the Universe started forming later than previous observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background indicated. This new analysis also ... read more

New Light on the Complex Nature of 'Hot Jupiter' Atmospheres

Sep. 2, 2016 — A team of international researchers used state-of-the-art modelling techniques to extensively study the atmosphere of a 'hot Jupiter' found 150 light-years from Earth. The scientists ... read more

NASA Team Probes Peculiar Age-Defying Star

Aug. 29, 2016 — For years, astronomers have puzzled over a massive star lodged deep in the Milky Way that shows conflicting signs of being extremely old and extremely young. Researchers initially classified the star ... read more

Milky Way Had a Blowout Bash 6 Million Years Ago

Aug. 29, 2016 — The center of the Milky Way galaxy is currently a quiet place where a supermassive black hole slumbers, only occasionally slurping small sips of hydrogen gas. But it wasn't always this way. A ... read more

Hunt for Ninth Planet Reveals New Extremely Distant Solar System Objects

Aug. 29, 2016 — In the race to discover a proposed ninth planet in our Solar System, researchers have observed several never-before-seen objects at extreme distances from the Sun in our Solar ... read more

Scientists Discover a ‘dark’ Milky Way

Aug. 26, 2016 — Using the world's most powerful telescopes, an international team of astronomers has found a massive galaxy that consists almost entirely of dark ... read more

Can One Cosmic Enigma Help Solve Another?

Aug. 24, 2016 — Astrophysicists have proposed a clever new way to shed light on the mystery of dark matter, believed to make up most of the universe. The irony is they want to try to pin down the nature of this ... read more

NASA's WISE, Fermi Missions Reveal a Surprising Blazar Connection

Aug. 24, 2016 — Astronomers using observations from NASA's WISE and Fermi missions have confirmed a connection between the infrared and gamma-ray light emitted by blazars, a class of distant galaxies powered by ... read more

Cosmic Neighbors Inhibit Star Formation, Even in the Early Universe

Aug. 24, 2016 — Researchers have discovered four of the most distant clusters of galaxies ever found, as they appeared when the universe was only 4 billion years old. This sample is now providing the best ... read more

Planet Found in Habitable Zone Around Nearest Star

Aug. 24, 2016 — Astronomers have found clear evidence of a planet orbiting the closest star to Earth, Proxima Centauri. The long-sought world, designated Proxima b, orbits its cool red parent star every 11 days and ... read more

Venus-Like Exoplanet Might Have Oxygen Atmosphere, but Not Life

Aug. 18, 2016 — The distant planet GJ 1132b intrigued astronomers when it was discovered last year. Located just 39 light-years from Earth, it might have an atmosphere despite being baked to a temperature of around ... read more

Brown Dwarfs Reveal Exoplanets' Secrets

Aug. 15, 2016 — Brown dwarfs are smaller than stars, but more massive than giant planets. As such, they provide a natural link between astronomy and planetary science. However, they also show incredible variation ... read more

New Worlds New Horizons: A Midterm Assessment

Aug. 15, 2016 — While scientists have made remarkable advancements in astronomy and astrophysics since the beginning of this decade -- notably the first detection of gravitational waves and the discovery of distant ... read more

NASA's Fermi Mission Expands Its Search for Dark Matter

Aug. 12, 2016 — Dark matter, the mysterious stuff that makes up most of the material universe, continues to vex scientists, but three creative studies using NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have helped ... read more

Ten Trillionths of Your Suntan Comes from Beyond Our Galaxy

Aug. 11, 2016 — Astronomers have accurately measured the light hitting the Earth from outside our galaxy and determined that 10 trillionths of your suntan comes from beyond our ... read more

Hubble Uncovers a Galaxy Pair Coming in from the Wilderness

Aug. 11, 2016 — Two tiny dwarf galaxies have been observed that have wandered from a vast cosmic wilderness into a nearby 'big city' packed with galaxies. After being quiescent for billions of years, they ... read more

Stellar Lab in Sagittarius

Aug. 10, 2016 — The small smattering of bright blue stars in a new ESO image is the perfect cosmic laboratory in which to study the life and death of stars. Known as Messier 18 this star cluster contains stars that ... read more

Monday, September 12, 2016