Category Astronomy/Space

Astronomers at the University of Iowa have determined our galaxy is surrounded by a clumpy halo of hot gases that is continually being supplied with material ejected by birthing or dying stars. The halo also may be where matter unaccounted for since the birth of the universe may reside. Results published in the journal Nature Astronomy.

University of Iowa astronomers have determined our galaxy is surrounded by a clumpy halo of hot gases that is continuall...

After almost two years circling an ancient asteroid hundreds of millions of miles away, a NASA spacecraft this week will attempt to descend to the treacherous, boulder-packed surface and snatch a handful of rubble.

The drama unfolds Tuesday as the U.S. takes its first crack at collecting asteroid samples for return to Earth, a feat accomplished so far only by Japan.

Brimming with names inspired by Egyptian mythology, the Osiris-Rex mission ...

In a surprising discovery, astronomers using two Maunakea Observatories — W. M. Keck Observatory and Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) — have found a globular star cluster in the Andromeda Galaxy that contains a record-breaking low amount of metals.

The stars in the cluster, called RBC EXT8, have on average 800 times less iron than our Sun and are three times more iron-poor than the previous globular cluster record-holder. RBC EXT8 is also extremely deficient in magnesium.

The study, led by Søren Larsen of Radboud University in the Netherlands, is published in today’s issue of the journal Science...

Finding lost star siblings. Star clusters have been part of the Imaginarium of human civilization for millennia. The brightest star clusters to Earth, like the Pleiades, are readily visible to the naked eye. A team has now revealed the existence of massive stellar halos, termed coronae, surrounding local star clusters.

“Clusters form big families of stars that can stay together for large parts of their lifetime...