Recent Comments

    Category Astronomy/Space

    Complex organic molecules found in young star’s disk hint at cosmic origins of life

    July 28, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a team of astronomers led by Abubakar Fadul from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) has discovered complex organic molecules—including the first tentative detection of ethylene glycol and glycolonitrile—in the protoplanetary disk of the outbursting protostar V883 Orionis.

    These compounds are considered precursors to the building blocks of life. Comparing different cosmic environments reveals that the abundance and complexity of such molecules increase from star-forming regions to fully evolved planetary systems. This suggests that the seeds of life are assembled in space and are widespread.

    The findings are published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

    Astronomers have discovered complex organic m...

    Read More

    Astronomers capture giant planet forming 440 light-years from Earth

    July 25, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Astronomers may have caught a still-forming planet in action, carving out an intricate pattern in the gas and dust that surrounds its young host star. Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), they observed a planetary disc with prominent spiral arms, finding clear signs of a planet nestled in its inner regions. This is the first time astronomers have detected a planet candidate embedded inside a disc spiral.

    “We will never witness the formation of Earth, but here, around a young star 440 light-years away, we may be watching a planet come into existence in real time,” says Francesco Maio, a doctoral researcher at the University of Florence, Italy, and lead author of this study, published on July 21 in Astronomy & Astrophysics.

    The potential planet-in-the-making was detected around...

    Read More

    NASA’s Roman telescope will catch 100,000 explosions — and rewrite the Universe’s story

    July 24, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    High-Latitude Time-Domain Survey infographic
    This infographic describes the High-Latitude Time-Domain Survey that will be conducted by NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. The survey’s main component will cover over 18 square degrees — a region of sky as large as 90 full moons — and see supernovae that occurred up to about 8 billion years ago. Smaller areas within the survey will pierce even farther, potentially back to when the universe was around a billion years old. The survey will be split between the northern and southern hemispheres, located in regions of the sky that will be continuously visible to Roman. The bulk of the survey will consist of 30-hour observations every five days for two years in the middle of Roman’s five-year primary mission.
    Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

    NASA’s Roman Space T...

    Read More

    Mysterious object found dancing with Neptune

    July 23, 2025, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    A team of astronomers led by the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian has discovered a rare object far beyond Neptune, from a class known as trans-Neptunian objects, that is moving in rhythm with the giant planet. This image shows the orbits of all of the objects discovered in the Outer Solar System Origins Survey. The orbit of 2020 VN40 is the thickest one, tilted up and to the left from the orbits of most of the objects.  The orbits of the giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are the white circles. 
    Credit: Rosemary Pike, CfA

    This object, called 2020 VN40, is the first confirmed body that orbits the sun once for every ten orbits Neptune completes.

    Astronomers have discovered a bizarre object in the outer solar system, 2020 VN40, that dances to Neptune’s g...

    Read More