The peanut at the heart of our galaxy

Two groups of astronomers have used data from ESO telescopes to make the best three-dimensional map yet of the central parts of the Milky Way. They have found that the inner regions take on a peanut-like, or X-shaped, appearance ...

Old at heart: A solution to red giants' age paradox

Four years ago, several red giant stars were discovered to pose a paradox: even though they are built from very old stellar material, their large masses indicate a clearly younger age. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute ...

Vampires and collisions rejuvenate stars

Stars in globular clusters are generally extremely old, with ages of 12-13 billion years. However, a small fraction of them appear to be significantly younger than the average population and, because they seem to have been ...

Researchers obtain spectrum information for nearby exoplanet

Scientists at the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canaries (IAC), together with collaborators at the Centre of Astrobiology (CAB) and the Polytechnic University of Cartagena (UPCT), have obtained an image of a giant planet ...

Can Earth-sized planets survive their star's expansion?

Two Earth-sized planets have been discovered circling a dying star that has passed the red giant stage. Because of their close orbits, the planets must have been engulfed by their star while it swelled up to many times its ...

page 5 from 9