K2’s First Five-Planet System
Kepler’s K2 mission has found its first planetary system containing more than three planets — an exciting five-planet system located ~380 light-years from Earth.
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Images of an Activated Asteroid
In late April of this year, asteroid P/2016 G1 was discovered streaking through space, a tail of dust extending behind it. What caused this asteroid’s tail?
How a Star Cluster Ruled Out MACHOs
Are massive black holes hiding in the halos of galaxies, making up the majority of the universe’s mysterious dark matter?
White Dwarf Surprise — Again!
Astrobites reports on a Kepler spacecraft finding: two new white dwarfs that are “outbursting” — suddenly brightening every few days before quieting down again.
Satellite Galaxies of the Milky Way
This beautiful image features Eridanus II, an ultra-faint dwarf galaxy that is orbiting the Milky Way.
Observing the Sun with NuSTAR
A high-energy telescope designed to observe distant astrophysical sources has recently been used to point much closer to home. Can it solve a few longstanding mysteries about the Sun?
Water Clouds in the Atmosphere of a Jupiter-Like Brown Dwarf
New observations have provided evidence of water clouds in the atmosphere of a brown dwarf located just 7.2 light-years away.
Mass Loss in Dying Stars
By the time a star becomes a white dwarf, much of its mass will have been lost. When does this mass loss occur and what drives it?
A Pulsar and a Disk
Recent, unusual X-ray observations from the Small Magellanic Cloud have led to an interesting model for SXP 214, a pulsar in a binary star system.
The Hunt for a Counterpart to GW150914
In September 2015, two days after the detection of GW150914, an alert went out to 63 ground- and space-based observatories. This launched the very first hunt for an electromagnetic counterpart to a gravitational wave signal.
Do Galactic Bars Buckle to Form Bulges?
New observations have caught two galaxies in the process of forming peanut-shaped bulges like the one in the center of our own Milky Way.
Featured Image: Supernova Remnants in the LMC
These vibrant images of supernova remnants in the Large Magellanic Cloud were created to explore the galaxy’s interstellar medium.