Category Archives: "Science"

  • Home
  • Archive by Category "Science"
    • (Page 2)
Many stars and galaxies including two spiral galaxies and three merging galaxies.

Ever-changing Universe Revealed in First Imagery From NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory

The NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory, a major new scientific facility jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and ...
Read More
A compact brightening bursts to life at the edge of a sunspot! This multi-instrument figure showcases high-resolution observations of the same active region. Panels a–b show data from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager at the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory. Panels c–e show spectra from the ViSP instrument at the Inouye. Panels f–h show images from the VBI instrument at the Inouye using three different light filters known as G-band, Hβ, and Ca II K. The panels reveal a small-scale, transient brightening (indicated by the black arrow) occurring at the boundary between opposite magnetic polarities (inside the blue box). One arcsecond corresponds to 720 km on the Sun.

Small-Scale Solar Explosion Reveals Big Clues About Magnetic Reconnection

Using the world’s largest solar telescope, a team of scientists has captured one of the most detailed views ever of ...
Read More
Magnetic Curtains on the Sun: NSF Inouye Solar Telescope Reveals Ultra-Fine Striations in Solar Surface

Magnetic Curtains on the Sun: NSF Inouye Solar Telescope Reveals Ultra-Fine Striations in Solar Surface

A team of solar physicists has released a new study shedding light on the fine-scale structure of the Sun’s surface ...
Read More
A three-panel image, two at the top and one stretched across the bottom. At the top of the image is the title “Three Future Scenarios for Milky Way and Andromeda Encounter.” This title is extended over all three panels. In the top left panel, two spiral galaxies are widely separated against the black background of space. Beneath these galaxies are the words “Galaxies bypass at 1 million light-year separation.” In the top right panel, two face-on spiral galaxies are close together. Their spiral arms appear stretched toward each other. At the bottom of this panel are the words “At 500,000 light-years, dark matter provides friction that brings galaxies to a close encounter.” In the bottom panel, two spiral galaxies have collided, resulting in a broad X-shaped patch of milky white. Mottled clouds of dark brown dust are superimposed. At the bottom of this panel are the words “A 100,000 light-year separation leads to a collision.”

Apocalypse When? Hubble Casts Doubt on Certainty of Galactic Collision

As far back as 1912, astronomers realized that the Andromeda galaxy -- then thought to be only a nebula -- was headed ...
Read More
Dark pink loops rise and fall from a swath of dark pink in the bottom right corner over a light pink background.

“Raindrops in the Sun’s Corona”: New Adaptive Optics Shows Stunning Details of our Star’s Atmosphere

The Sun’s corona—the outermost layer of its atmosphere, visible only during a total solar eclipse—has long intrigued scientists due to ...
Read More
Three panels, each showing a close-up near-infrared image of Jupiter’s north pole, in shades of orange. The planet is mostly dark. Thick, bright arcs and rings caused by auroras cover the pole. The center and right panels each show the aurora a few minutes later in time, as Webb’s field of view slowly scans over the planet.

NASA’s Webb Reveals New Details, Mysteries in Jupiter’s Aurora

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured new details of the auroras on our solar system’s largest planet. The dancing ...
Read More
Six-panel illustration marked "Artist's Concept." The upper left panel shows the silhouette of supermassive black hole that is adrift inside a galaxy. The middle upper panel shows a yellow star drifting near the black hole. The three following panels show the star being shredded in bright white concentric streamers followed by a white explosion. the bottom right panel is an external view of the galaxy showing a bright white star-like object that is the site if the explosion as viewed in X-rays and visible light.

NASA’s Hubble Pinpoints Roaming Massive Black Hole

Lurking 600 million light-years away, within the inky black depths between stars, there is an invisible monster gulping down any ...
Read More
Composite shows four Hubble images in quarters. At top left is a crisp view of Mars in shades of orange, blues, and browns. At top right is planetary nebula NGC 2899, which is shaped like a single macaroni noodle, with its central torus appearing semi-transparent and blue and green, and its top and bottom edges in orange. At bottom left is a tiny portion of the Rosette Nebula. Very dark gray material shaped like a triangle takes up the center. At bottom right is barred spiral galaxy NGC 5335 with a milky yellow center that forms a bar surrounded by multiple blue star-filled spiral arms that wrap up counterclockwise.

Hubble’s Window on the Universe: NASA Celebrates Hubble’s 35th Year in Orbit

In celebration of the Hubble Space Telescope’s 35 years in Earth orbit, NASA is releasing an assortment of compelling images recently ...
Read More
An overall red glittery image with a dark back crack running diagonally through it.

Circinus West: A Dark Nebula Harboring a Nest of Newly Formed Stars

A celestial shadow known as the Circinus West molecular cloud creeps across this image taken with the Department of Energy-fabricated ...
Read More
Undulating waves of gold, orange and red fill this image. Dark black areas are surrounded by deep red and orange indicating sunspots.

Largest Imaging Spectro-Polarimeter Achieves First Light at the NSF Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope

The U.S. National Science Foundation Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, the world’s most powerful solar telescope, operated by the NSF ...
Read More
image with 4 sections

NSF’s Inouye Solar Telescope’s Cryo-NIRSP instrument offers unprecedented look at Alfvén waves

Over the last decade, scientists have confirmed the presence of a an important type of magnetized waves called Alfvén waves ...
Read More
The image is split into 2 parts. On the right is a fuzzy orange galaxy on a black background on the left is a start filed shoeing where the galaxy is on the sky.

NSF NOIRLab Astronomer Discovers Oldest Known Spiral Galaxy in the Universe

An international team led by NSF NOIRLab astronomer Christina Williams has discovered the most distant spiral galaxy known to date ...
Read More
More
AURA Astronomy AURA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization        © 2025 Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy