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Circular orbits identified for small exoplanets
Observations of 74 Earth-sized planets around distant stars may narrow field of habitable candidates.
June 1, 2015 Read more
Astronomers discover a young solar system around a nearby star
An international team has discovered a young planetary system that shares remarkable similarities to our own early solar system. Their images reveal a ring-like disk of debris surrounding a Sun-like star, in a birth environment similar to the Sun's.
June 1, 2015 Read more
Merging galaxies break radio silence
Large Hubble survey confirms link between mergers and supermassive black holes with relativistic jets.
May 28, 2015 Read more
Scientists one step closer to mimicking gamma-ray bursts
Using ever more energetic lasers, researchers have produced a record high number of electron-positron pairs, opening exciting opportunities to study extreme astrophysical processes, such as black holes and gamma-ray bursts.
May 27, 2015 Read more
Hubble video shows shock collision inside black hole jet
Astronomers have discovered for the first time a rear-end collision between two high-speed knots of ejected matter from a supermassive black hole. This discovery was made while piecing together a time-lapse movie of a plasma jet blasted from a supermassive black hole inside a galaxy, located 260 million light-years from Earth.
May 27, 2015 Read more
Discovery shows what the solar system looked like as a 'toddler'
Astronomers have discovered a disc of planetary debris surrounding a young sun-like star that shares remarkable similarities with the Kuiper Belt that lies beyond Neptune, and may aid in understanding how our solar system developed.
May 27, 2015 Read more
Similarities between aurorae on Mars and Earth
An international team of researchers has for the first time predicted the occurrence of aurorae visible to the naked eye on a planet other than Earth.
May 27, 2015 Read more
Looking for extra-terrestrial life in alien oceans
Great honour for Nicolas Thomas from the University of Berne: The scientist was selected as part of the imaging team for NASA's Europa Clipper mission. The mission will help to answer the question whether there is life in the oceans of Jupiter's moon, Europa.
May 27, 2015 Read more
A bubbly cosmic celebration
In the brightest region of the nebula RCW 34, gas is heated and expands through the surrounding cooler gas. Once the heated hydrogen reaches the borders of the gas cloud, it bursts outwards into the vacuum like the contents of an uncorked champagne bottle - this process is referred to as champagne flow. But the young RCW 34 has more to offer; there seem to have been multiple episodes of star formation within the same cloud.
May 27, 2015 Read more
Supernovas help 'clean' galaxies
Supernovas just might be the maid service of the universe. It seems these explosions that mark the end of a star's life work hand-in-hand with supermassive black holes to sweep out gas and shut down galaxies' star-forming factories.
May 27, 2015 Read more
Monitoring magnetospheres
The research of magnetic, massive stars has uncovered questions concerning the behaviour of plasma within their magnetospheres.
May 26, 2015 Read more
Uncovering the mysteries of cosmic explosions
An automated software system played a key role in the discovery of supernova iPTF 14atg and could provide insight, a virtual Rosetta stone, into future supernovae and their underlying physics.
May 22, 2015 Read more
WISE finds most luminous galaxy in universe
A remote galaxy shining brightly with infrared light equal to more than 300 trillion suns has been discovered using data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. The galaxy, which belongs to a new class of objects recently discovered by WISE - nicknamed extremely luminous infrared galaxies, or ELIRGs - is the most luminous galaxy found to date.
May 22, 2015 Read more
Hubble observes one-of-a-kind star nicknamed 'Nasty'
Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have uncovered surprising new clues about a hefty, rapidly aging star whose behavior has never been seen before in our Milky Way galaxy. In fact, the star is so weird that astronomers have nicknamed it 'Nasty 1', a play on its catalog name of NaSt1. The star may represent a brief transitory stage in the evolution of extremely massive stars.
May 22, 2015 Read more
Galaxy's snacking habits revealed
Astronomers have caught a greedy galaxy gobbling on its neighbours and leaving crumbs of evidence about its dietary past.
May 21, 2015 Read more
Supernova hits star, results shocking
Team of astronomers observes supernova smash into companion star; resulting ultraviolet pulse points to supernova's origin story.
May 20, 2015 Read more
Asteroid research benefits from Gaia satellite mission
Scientists discover dozens of small celestial bodies every night.
May 20, 2015 Read more