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    Category Astronomy/Space

    HETDEX reveals Galaxy Gold Mine in First Large Survey

    February 14, 2023, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    The Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) announced their first publicly released catalog mapping over 200,000 astronomical objects, which include distant stars and galaxies bursting with star formation. HETDEX tiles the sky, collecting spectroscopic data that is used to pinpoint location of a star or galaxy and its distance from Earth. (Top) Sky coverage of the planned HETDEX Fall field (in red) and the footprint of this catalog release (in blue), with stars, Lyman-alpha emitting (lae), [O II]-emitting (oii), and low-z galaxies of non [OII] emission (lzg) color coded. Credit: Erin Mentuch Cooper et al 2023 ApJ 943 177.

    TACC systems support catalog release of over 200,000 new star and galaxy locations...

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    Hubble captures the start of a new Spoke Season at Saturn

    February 14, 2023, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Saturn and its rings fill the view. Saturn has yellow, reddish-brown, and tan stripes. Saturn's rings are tilted slightly, allowing us to see ring bands along with the wide dark band called the Cassini Division.
    NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has observation time devoted to Saturn each year, thanks to the Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) program, and the dynamic gas giant planet always shows us something new. This latest image heralds the start of Saturn’s “spoke season” with the appearance of two smudgy spokes in the B ring, on the left in the image. The shape and shading of spokes varies – they can appear light or dark, depending on the viewing angle, and sometimes appear more like blobs than classic radial spoke shapes, as seen here. The ephemeral features don’t last long, but as the planet’s autumnal equinox approaches on May 6, 2025, more will appear. Scientists will be looking for clues to explain the cause and nature of the spokes...
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    Footprints of Galactic Immigration uncovered in Andromeda Galaxy

    February 10, 2023, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    A team of researchers led by astronomers at NSF’s NOIRLab has uncovered striking new evidence for a mass migration of stars into the Andromeda Galaxy. Intricate patterns in the motions of stars reveal an immigration history very similar to that of the Milky Way. The new results were obtained with the DOE’s Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument on the Nicholas U. Mayall 4-meter Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab.

    The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument reveals compelling evidence of a mass migration of stars into Andromeda Galaxy. Intricate patterns in the motions of stars reveal an immigration history very similar to that of the Milky Way.

    Over the course of billions of years, galaxies grow and evolve by forging new stars and merging with o...

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    A New Ring System discovered in our Solar System

    February 10, 2023, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Credit: Paris Observatory

    Scientists have discovered a new ring system around a dwarf planet on the edge of the Solar System. The ring system orbits much further out than is typical for other ring systems, calling into question current theories of how ring systems are formed.

    The ring system is around a dwarf planet, named Quaoar, which is approximately half the size of Pluto and orbits the Sun beyond Neptune.

    The discovery, published in Nature, was made by an international team of astronomers using HiPERCAM — an extremely sensitive high-speed camera developed by scientists at the University of Sheffield which is mounted on the world’s largest optical telescope, the 10.4 metre diameter Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) on La Palma.

    The rings are too small and faint to see directl...

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