distant

Distant galaxies appear to overlap in new Hubble telescope image

by

A new Hubble image shows two deceivingly close galaxies located in the constellation Virgo.  The Hubble Space Telescope captured the barred spiral galaxy NGC 4496A and the spiral galaxy NGC 4496B. The two galaxies only appear to overlap due to a chance alignment — in reality, they are actually located incredibly far apart. NGC 4496A … Read more

An 85-Mile-Wide Comet Is Officially The Largest Comet Ever Observed

by

The Bernardinelli-Bernstein comet, identified in 2021, is officially the biggest comet ever observed. The new record, reported on the preprint website arXiv and now accepted for publication in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics Letters, bumps the Hale-Bopp comet from the top spot. Hale-Bopp was discovered in 1995 and became visible to the naked eye in 1996; it … Read more

For The First Time, a Lone Black Hole Has Been Found Wandering The Milky Way

by

Like an ancient cardigan, the Milky Way should be absolutely riddled with black holes. According to our best estimates, there should be as many as 10 million to 1 billion stellar-mass black holes out there, drifting peacefully and quietly through the galaxy. There’s just one problem when it comes to counting them: Unless they manage … Read more

This map of distant galaxies could help untangle the mystery of dark energy | Science

by

A new cosmic survey project known as the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) today released its first results: the most detailed 3D map of the universe to date, which shows the locations of 400,000 galaxies up to distances of 10 billion light-years. The map is the fruit of the project’s first 7 months of operation. … Read more

Feast Your Eyes on The Last Hubble Pic For 2021 – A Distant, Smirking Galaxy

by

In 2014, amateur astronomers in New Zealand glimpsed a flare of light emanating from the constellation of Centauri. NASA later confirmed this blaze was a massive supernova explosion from another galaxy an incredible 57 million light-years away from our Milky Way.   “Dedicated amateur astronomers often make intriguing discoveries – particularly of fleeting astronomical phenomena … Read more

5 Out-of-This-World Telescope Photos of Space to Get You Excited For The JWST Launch

by

The forthcoming launch of the James Webb Space Telescope offers unprecedented new opportunities for astronomers. It’s also a timely opportunity to reflect on what previous generations of telescopes have shown us.   Astronomers rarely use their telescopes to simply take pictures. The pictures in astrophysics are usually generated by a process of scientific inference and … Read more

Stellar Video Shows Comet Leonard as It Zips by Earth For The 1st Time in 80,000 Years

by

Since early this year, skywatchers on Earth have been tracking Comet Leonard, a kilometer-wide dirty snowball made of ice, rock, and dust. Now, as it heads towards a close encounter with the Sun on 3 January 2022, several spacecraft – with the distinct advantage of having an unobstructed front-row seat to the action – have … Read more