'Oumuamua
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
Submitted by idfive
on
Cambridge, MA -
Active Galactic Nuclei and Star Formation
Submitted by idfive
on
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
Submitted by idfive
on
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...
Four Newly Discovered Milky Way Neighbors
Submitted by idfive
on
Ultra-faint, dwarf galaxies are the smallest, most dark matter dominated, and least chemically enriched stellar systems in the universe and are important targets for understanding dark ma...
NASA Extends Chandra Operations, Science Support Contract
Submitted by idfive
on
Cambridge, MA -
NASA has awarded a contract extension to the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to continue operations and science support for the...
Illuminating First Light Data from Parker Solar Probe
Submitted by idfive
on
Just over a month into its mission, Parker Solar Probe has returned first-light data from each of its four instrument suites. These early observations – while not yet examples of the key ...
A New Classification Scheme for Exoplanet Sizes
Submitted by idfive
on
There are about 4433 exoplanets in the latest catalogs. Their radii have generally been measured by knowing the radius of their host star and then closely fitting the lightcurves as the p...
"First Light" Image from Tess Released
Submitted by idfive
on
NASA's newest planet hunter, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), is now providing valuable data to help scientists discover and study exciting new exoplanets, or planets bey...
Chandra Detection of Diskless Young Stars
Submitted by idfive
on
Stars frequently form in crowded environments. By combining the resources of multi-wavelength missions like Chandra in the X-ray and Spitzer in the infrared, astronomers are able to resol...