Astronomy | SpaceRef

Astronomy TOP STORY

The Universe's First Type of Molecule Is Found at Last

Helium Hydride Ion HeH+

The first type of molecule that ever formed in the universe has been detected in space for the first time, after decades of searching.

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Astronomy TOP STORIES

Unrivaled View of the Southern Crab Nebula

Southern Crab Nebula

This incredible image of the hourglass-shaped Southern Crab Nebula was taken to mark the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope's 29th anniversary in space.

Deep Space X-ray Burst Gives Astronomers New Signal To Detect Neutron Star Merger

An international team of astronomers, including faculty and alumni from UNLV, has discovered a new way to spot when collisions occur in distant galaxies between two neutron stars - incredibly dense, city-sized celestial bodies that possess the most powerful magnetic fields in the universe.

Hubble Peers At Cosmic Blue Bauble

Globular clusters are inherently beautiful objects, but the subject of this NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image, Messier 3, is commonly acknowledged to be one of the most beautiful of them all.

Pinpointing The Origin of Photons in Mysterious Gamma-ray Bursts

Scientists from the RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research and collaborators have used simulations to show that the photons emitted by long gamma-ray bursts--one of the most energetic events to take place in the universe--originate in the photosphere--the visible portion of the "relativistic jet" that is emitted by exploding stars.

Astronomers Capture First Image of a Black Hole

The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) -- a planet-scale array of eight ground-based radio telescopes forged through international collaboration -- was designed to capture images of a black hole.

Hubble View Of Messier 11

This star-studded image shows us a portion of Messier 11, an open star cluster in the southern constellation of Scutum (the Shield).

GRAVITY Instrument Breaks New Ground In Exoplanet Imaging

The GRAVITY instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) has made the first direct observation of an exoplanet using optical interferometry.

LIGO And Virgo Resume Search for Ripples in Space And Time

The National Science Foundation's LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) is set to resume its hunt for gravitational waves -- ripples in space and time -- on April 1, after receiving a series of upgrades to its lasers, mirrors, and other components.

Icy Giant Planets In The Laboratory

Giant planets like Uranus and Neptune may contain much less free hydrogen than previously assumed.

Hubble Captures the Brilliant Heart of a Massive Galaxy

This fuzzy orb of light is a giant elliptical galaxy filled with an incredible 200 billion stars.

Galactic Center Visualization Delivers Star Power

Want to take a trip to the center of the Milky Way? Check out a new immersive, ultra-high-definition visualization.

Ultra-Sharp Images Make Old Stars Look Absolutely Marvelous

Just as high-definition imaging is transforming home entertainment, it is also advancing how astronomers study the universe.

Giant X-ray 'Chimneys' Exhaust Energy Produced in the Galactic Center

The center of our galaxy is a frenzy of activity. A behemoth black hole -- 4 million times as massive as the Sun -- blasts out energy as it chows down on interstellar detritus while neighboring stars burst to life and subsequently explode.

Astronomers Find A Pulsar Speeding Through Space

Astronomers using the National Science Foundation's Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) have found a pulsar speeding away from its presumed birthplace at nearly 700 miles per second, with its trail pointing directly back at the center of a shell of debris from the supernova explosion that created it

Storm Rages in Cosmic Teacup

Fancy a cup of cosmic tea? This one isn't as calming as the ones on Earth. In a galaxy hosting a structure nicknamed the "Teacup," a galactic storm is raging.

Astronomers Discover 83 Supermassive Black Holes in Early Universe

A team of astronomers has discovered 83 quasars powered by supermassive black holes (SMBHs) in the early universe.

The Origin Of Heavy Elements

A research team of experts in atomic physics, nuclear fusion science, and astronomy succeeded in computing millions of highly accurate atomic data of neodymium ions in the Japan-Lithuania international collaboration.