The Cygnus Loop
The Cygnus Loop (also known as the Veil Nebula) is a supernova remnant, the detritus of the explosive death of a massive star about ten to twenty thousand years ago. Detailed modeling of ...
Gravitationally Lensed Quasars
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The path of light is bent by mass, an effect predicted by Einstein's theory of gravity, and when a massive galaxy or cluster lies along our line-of-sight to a more distant galaxy its matt...
Once-In-A-Lifetime Observations by Veritas Astronomers Reveal High Energy Gamma-Rays from a Binary Star System
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Cambridge, MA -
A new discovery reported in the Astrophysical Journal Letters might lay claim to title of the most unusual extreme class of astronomical object: very high energy (VHE)...
A Galaxy-scale Fountain of Cold Molecular Gas Pumped by a Black Hole
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Most galaxies lie in clusters containing from a few to thousands of other galaxies. Our Milky Way, for example, belongs to the Local Group cluster of about fifty galaxies whose other lar...
Dust Production in Evolved Exoplanetary Systems
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Stellar variability has long offered insights into stars' physical properties. The star Mira (Omicron Ceti), for example, was so-named in 1596 by Dutch astronomers who were amazed by its...
Light Echos in the Eta Carinae Nebula
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The young star Eta Carinae shines prominently in the skies of the southern hemisphere. Although located relatively far away from Earth (about seven thousand light-years away, as compared...
'Oumuamua
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One year ago this week astronomers discovered an unusual object moving through space not too far from the Earth's orbit. In just a few days they realized it could not be a normal asteroid...
Measuring the Age of the Universe
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Cambridge, MA -
Active Galactic Nuclei and Star Formation
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Most galaxies host a supermassive black hole (SMBH) at their nucleus (a supermassive black hole is one whose mass exceeds a million solar-masses.) A key unresolved issue in galaxy format...
Remarkable Flares from the Galactic Center
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Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*), the supermassive black hole at the center of our Milky Way Galaxy, is 100 times closer to us than any other SMBH and therefore a prime candidate for studies of ho...