Old stars may be the best places to search for life

Once upon a cosmic time, scientists assumed that stars apply an eternal magnetic brake, causing an endless slowdown of their rotation. With new observations and sophisticated methods, they have now peeked into a star's magnetic ...

Astronomers observe three iron rings in a planet-forming disk

The origin of Earth and the solar system inspires scientists and the public alike. By studying the present state of our home planet and other objects in the solar system, researchers have developed a detailed picture of the ...

NASA telescopes start the year with a double bang

A colorful, festive image shows different types of light containing the remains of not one, but at least two exploded stars. This supernova remnant is known as 30 Doradus B (30 Dor B for short) and is part of a larger region ...

NGC 2264: Telescopes illuminate 'Christmas tree cluster'

This new image of NGC 2264, also known as the "Christmas Tree Cluster," shows the shape of a cosmic tree with the glow of stellar lights. NGC 2264 is, in fact, a cluster of young stars—with ages between about one and five ...

Webb finds icy complex organic molecules around protostars

In the quest to understand how and where life might arise in the galaxy, astronomers search for its building blocks. Complex Organic Molecules (COMs) are some of those blocks, and they include things like formaldehyde and ...

ALMA observation of young star reveals details of dust grains

One of the primary goals of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is to study the formation and evolution of planetary systems. Young stars are often surrounded by a disk of gas and dust, out of which planets ...

ALMA demonstrates highest resolution yet

ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) has demonstrated the highest resolution yet with observations of an old star. The observations show that the star is surrounded by a ring-like structure of gas and that ...

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