What looks like a red butterfly in space is in reality a nursery for hundreds of baby stars, revealed in this infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Officially named Westerhout 40 (W40), the butterfly is a nebula—a ...
Astronomy
Mar 27, 2019
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560
(Phys.org)—A small team of researchers with members affiliated with the University of Maryland, the University of Virginia and Caltech, has found that the outermost ring of Saturn is much bigger than had been previously ...
NASA is pulling the plug on one of its great observatories—the Spitzer Space Telescope—after 16 years of scanning the universe with infrared eyes.
Space Exploration
Jan 29, 2020
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2905
When a team of astronomers found a galaxy in the direction of Ursa Major two years ago, they weren't sure what to make of it.
Astronomy
Mar 29, 2016
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220
Alone on the cosmic road, far from any known celestial object, a young, independent star is going through a tremendous growth spurt.
Astronomy
Jul 27, 2016
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500
Black holes aren't stationary in space; in fact, they can be quite active in their movements. But because they are completely dark and can't be observed directly, they're not easy to study. Scientists have finally figured ...
Astronomy
Apr 29, 2020
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3267
(Phys.org)—Astronomers have discovered what appears to be a large asteroid belt around the star Vega, the second brightest star in northern night skies. The scientists used data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the ...
Astronomy
Jan 8, 2013
21
0
(PhysOrg.com) -- Bok globules are small interstellar clouds of very cold gas and dust that are so thick they are nearly totally opaque to visible light, although they can be studied with infrared and radio techniques. They ...
Astronomy
Jun 4, 2010
1
0
Massive clusters of galaxies, some with more mass than a hundred Milky Way galaxies, have been detected from cosmic epochs as early as about three billion years after the big bang. Their ongoing star formation makes them ...
Astronomy
May 10, 2019
13
424
Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy, is 100 times closer to us than any other SMBH and therefore a prime candidate for studies of how matter radiates as it accretes onto ...
Astronomy
Oct 8, 2018
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