Astronomy | SpaceRef

Astronomy TOP STORY

The Cosmic Commute Towards Star And Planet Formation

Mars Imaged by Hubble

The molecular gas in galaxies is organised into a hierarchy of structures.

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Astronomy TOP STORIES

The Secret Life Of Lithium In Sun-like Stars: Created Not Just Destroyed

Mars Imaged by Hubble

Lithium is becoming common in our everyday lives. It is the key ingredient in the batteries of our mobile phones and electric vehicles, but have you ever wondered where it comes from?

Hubble Spots Feathered Spiral Galaxy NGC 2775

The spiral pattern shown by the galaxy in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope is striking because of its delicate, feathery nature.

Stellar Fireworks Celebrate The Birth Of A Giant Cluster

Astronomers created a stunning new image showing celestial fireworks in star cluster G286.21+0.17.

A Binary Star As A Cosmic Particle Accelerator

With a specialised telescope in Namibia a DESY-led team of researchers has proven a certain type of binary star as a new kind of source for very high-energy cosmic gamma-radiation.

First Measurement Of Spin-orbit Alignment On Planet Beta Pictoris b

Astronomers have made the first measurement of spin-orbit alignment for a distant 'super-Jupiter' planet, demonstrating a technique that could enable breakthroughs in the quest to understand how exoplanetary systems form and evolved.

Hubble Watches HBC 672 - The Bat Shadow

The young star HBC 672 is known by its nickname of Bat Shadow because of its wing-like shadow feature.

Hubble Captures NGC 5907 - The Knife Edge Galaxy

The galaxy known as NGC 5907 stretches wide across this image. Appearing as an elongated line of stars and dark dust, the galaxy is categorized as a spiral galaxy just like our own Milky Way.

Most Massive Quasar Known In The Early Universe Discovered On Maunakea

Astronomers have discovered the second-most distant quasar ever found using three Maunakea Observatories in Hawai'i: W. M. Keck Observatory, the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF's NOIRLab, and the University of Hawai'i-owned United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT).

Newly Discovered Planet Zips Around A Baby Star In A Week

Understanding how planets form is one of the main challenges scientists face when placing our own and other planetary systems in context.

LIGO-Virgo Finds A Mystery Object In A Mass Gap

When the most massive stars die, they collapse under their own gravity and leave behind black holes; when stars that are a bit less massive die, they explode in supernovas and leave behind dense, dead remnants of stars called neutron stars.

Hubble Provides Holistic View Of Stars Gone Haywire

As nuclear fusion engines, most stars live placid lives for hundreds of millions to billions of years.

New Ideas In The Search For Dark Matter

Since the 1980s, researchers have been running experiments in search of particles that make up dark matter, an invisible substance that permeates our galaxy and universe.

A Black Hole's Heart Is Still Beating

The first confirmed heartbeat of a supermassive black hole is still going strong more than ten years after first being observed.

Research Provides New Explanation For Neutrino Anomalies In Antarctica

A new research paper co-authored by a Virginia Tech assistant professor of physics provides a new explanation for two recent strange events that occurred in Antarctica - high-energy neutrinos appearing to come up out of the Earth on their own accord and head skyward.

Hubble Catches Globular Cluster NGC 6441 Sparkling

Almost like snowflakes, the stars of the globular cluster NGC 6441 sparkle peacefully in the night sky, about 13,000 light-years from the Milky Way's galactic center.

STEREO Watches Comet ATLAS as Solar Orbiter Crosses Its Tail

NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory, or STEREO-A spacecraft, captured these images of comet ATLAS as it swooped by the Sun from May 25 - June 1.

Scientists Detect Crab Nebula Using Innovative Gamma-ray Telescope

Scientists have detected gamma rays from the Crab Nebula, the most famous of supernova remnants, using a next-generation telescope that opens the door for astrophysicists to study some of the most energetic and unusual objects in the universe.