Galaxy Megamergers 1.4 – 1.5 Billion Years after the Big Bang
Two teams of astronomers have used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) and the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX), in Chile, to observe dense concentrations of so-called “starburst” galaxies. With these galaxies packing together so closely, the scientific teams realized that they were getting ready to violently collide and merge with each other, which would eventually […]
Study: Planet Uranus Smells Like Rotten Eggs
A new study has confirmed what a number of scientists have long suspected about the ice giant planet, Uranus. Its upper atmosphere probably smells like rotten eggs. The rotten egg smell can be attributed to a flammable and poisonous gas called hydrogen sulfide. An international group of scientists led by Patrick Irwin, from the UK’s University of Oxford, […]
NASA Launches TESS the Exoplanet Hunter
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, will soon join NASA’s fleet of exoplanet-hunters that, so far, includes the Kepler, Hubble, and the Spitzer Space Telescopes. TESS was launched at 2251 UTC on April 18, 2018, from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The space observatory is expected to survey about 85% of […]
Astronomers Search for the Sun’s Long-Lost Solar Siblings
While a family reunion is highly unlikely, Australian and European astronomers are still trying to find our Sun’s long-lost solar siblings which are now scattered throughout the sky. To do so, the scientists examined the of some 350,000 stars in the Milky Way – as though they were mapping each star’s DNA. The sun was […]
Radio Telescope Finds No Signs of Alien Life in Interstellar Object
Soon after the October 2017 discovery of Oumuamua, the first confirmed interstellar object to visit our solar system, rumors and conspiracy theories began popping up all over the Internet. Because of its suspected origins, as well as its odd, flat, cigar-shaped appearance, word started to spread that the object was actually an alien interstellar space […]
Discovered: Most Distant Star Seen (So Far)
The 2016 discovery of the most distant star ever seen – so far – has been outlined in a new study published in the journal Nature Astronomy. According to the study, the star, formally named 1) but nicknamed Icarus, is located about 9 billion light-years from Earth. This means light from the star started toward […]
A Galaxy is Missing Its Dark Matter
Scientists say that the invisible and mysterious dark matter makes up about 27% of all material in the universe. Regular or normal matter that you see and touch every day takes up 5% and the remaining 68% comes from an enigmatic form of energy called dark energy. According to NASA, dark matter serves as a type of […]
Newly Discovered Exoplanet Resembles Planet Mercury
A newly found exoplanet called K2-229b is about 20% larger and 2.5 times more massive than Earth. But the international team of astronomers, who recently discovered it, say it’s more like a super-charged version of our solar-system’s innermost planet, Mercury. They describe the planet as hot, metallic, made of iron and nickel, circles an orange K-dwarf […]
More Testing Needed: NASA Delays Launch of Webb Space Telescope
Have you been anxiously waiting to see some of the new and more dazzling views of space that NASA promises will be provided by the new James Webb Space Telescope? Well, sorry to disappoint you, but you’re going to have to wait a little longer. The US space agency says they must delay sending the more powerful […]
First Interstellar Visitor Probably Came From Binary Star System
Canadian astronomers think that the first confirmed interstellar object to enter our solar system, a rocky, cigar-shaped asteroid called ‘Oumuamua, probably came from a binary star system. To make their findings, the researchers at the University of Toronto’s Center for Planetary Science checked into just how effective twin star systems are at ejecting objects like […]