Scientists at Berkeley Lab and the University of Hawaii have shown how DNA’s molecular precursors – carbon ring structures with embedded nitrogen atoms – could be created in the region surrounding a star. The new work adds to previous intriguing observations of what appear to be organic molecules in distant stellar environments. In the new […]
Using data from NASA’s WISE orbiting observatory, a team of scientists say they have found no evidence of the mid-infrared energy emissions we would expect to observe from other advanced civilizations. The research is a significant expansion of earlier work in this area, which looked at only 100 or so galaxies. “The idea behind our […]
Astronomers have discovered an unusual carbon-based molecule – isopropyl cyanide – in the gaseous star-forming region Sagittarius B2. The discovery, made using the ALMA radio telescope array, suggests that the complex molecules needed for life may have their origins in interstellar space. The astronomers, from Cornell University, the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, and […]
Astrophysicists have discovered an entire star cluster that has been ejected from the galaxy known as M87 at more than two million miles per hour. The newly discovered cluster, which astronomers named HVGC-1, will now travel forever through intergalactic space. “Astronomers have found runaway starsbefore, but this is the first time we’ve found a runaway […]
Discovered using NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and Spitzer Space Telescopes, a brown dwarf star only 7.2 light years distant appears to be the coldest of its kind – as chilly as Earth’s North Pole. “It is very exciting to discover a new neighbor of our solar system that is so close,” said Kevin […]
An international team of astronomers have announced the discovery of a new rocky planet the same size as Earth that could have liquid water on its surface. The potentially habitable planet, dubbed Kepler-186f, was discovered using data from NASA’s Kepler telescope and verified by the Gemini and Keck telescopes. “What makes this finding particularly compelling […]
Pivoting planets that lean one way and then change orientation within a relatively short time period might be surprisingly habitable. That’s according to NASA scientists who say the climate effects generated on these wobbling worlds could prevent them from turning into glacier-covered ice lockers, even if those planets are somewhat far from their stars. “Planets […]
For decades, astronomers have known that the atmospheres surrounding stars are often “polluted” with elements like carbon, silicon, and iron. How these elements came to be there has been an intriguing mystery that an international team of astronomers believe they have now solved. Led by Professor Martin Barstow, President-elect of the Royal Astronomical Society, the […]
Astronomers have discovered dozens of solitary stars that are moving fast enough to escape the gravitational grasp of the Milky Way galaxy. These cryptic hypervelocity stars appear to be traveling at speeds in excess of a million miles-per-hour, but scientists aren’t sure what force could have given them such a kick. An article describing these […]
After nearly a decade of development, construction, and testing, the world’s most advanced instrument for directly imaging planets around other stars is pointing skyward and producing its first images of planets outside our solar system. (The image at right shows the planet Beta Pictoris b, orbiting the star Beta Pictoris. The star is hidden behind […]
