captures | Common News Update

Nov282019 by adminNo Comments

Hawaiian observatory captures closeup of interstellar comet

Science

Nov. 27 (UPI) -- Using the W.M. Keck Observatory's Low-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer, a team of astronomers at Yale University has captured new imagery of the interstellar comet 2l/Borisov -- the first closeup view of the alien object. In addition to securing a closeup portrait of the comet, Yale scientists Pieter van Dokkum, Cheng-Han Hsieh, Shany Danieli, and Gregory Laughlin created an image juxtaposing the comet with planet Earth. While Earth itself is much larger than the comet's body, it's tail would dwarf Earth if the two objects were placed side by side. "It's humbling to realize how small Earth is next to this visitor from another solar system," van Dokkum said in a news release. The interstellar comet was first spotted by Gennady Borisov, an astronomer at the MARGO observato...

Nov172019 by adminNo Comments

Hubble captures portrait of unique spiral galaxy

Science

Nov. 15 (UPI) -- NASA shared a new Hubble Space Telescope image Friday featuring a galaxy that looks a lot like the Milky Way upon first glance. Like the Milky Way, NGC 772 is a spiral galaxy. It also has several small satellite galaxies circling its outskirts, just as the Milky Way does. Additionally, NGC 772 boasts a long, warped arm of gas, dust and stars. The arm was stretched and distorted by the gravity of one of the passing satellite galaxies. But while NGC 772 may look like many of the other spiral galaxies photographed by Hubble, its composition and structure are unique. NGC 772 is without a bar; it is an unbarred spiral galaxy. Bars are found in the centers of most spiral galaxies. Scientists estimate these pipelines of gas and dust help deliver materials to star-forming region...

Aug232019 by adminNo Comments

NASA’s Hubble captures image of dynamic star death

Science

Aug. 23 (UPI) -- NASA and the European Space Agency on Friday released an image of a dying star that the agencies said confounded astronomers when they first studied it. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image released this week was thought to be a picture of two separate objects, when in fact the objects are one star that has separated into two lobes. While they were recorded by astronomers as separate planetary bodies -- NGC 2371 and NGC 2372 -- the two lobes form something called a planetary nebula. The nebula NGC 2371/2 formed when a star started to die, pushing its outer layers out into space, leaving a stellar remnant behind. In the picture, the two lobes of material can be seen in the upper right and lower left corners, with the superheated stellar remnant roughly equidistant be...

Nov252018 by adminNo Comments

Russia opens fire on Ukrainian ships and captures three vessels

World

Russia has opened fire on Ukrainian ships and captured three vessels in a major escalation of tensions off the coast of Crimea. Three sailors have been wounded after the Ukrainian navy said two artillery boats were hit in the strikes.Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has called an emergency session of his war cabinet in response to the incident in the Black Sea.Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said it used weapons after the Ukrainian ships ignored demands to stop and impounded three vessels which had illegally crossed the border.The three injured sailors are receiving medical treatment and their lives are not in danger, the FSB said.But Ukraine's ambassador to the UK said Russian special forces had captured two armoured artillery boats and a tugboat in an "act of ...

Apr152018 by adminNo Comments

Hubble captures glow of giant galaxy cluster

Science

April 13 (UPI) -- A new image from the Hubble Space Telescope showcases a massive galaxy cluster, a web of thousands of galaxies tied together by the tug of gravity.The galaxy cluster featured in the image is named PLCK G308.3-20.2. Like an ecosystem full of biodiversity, the cluster is home to wide range of galaxies -- all different types, shapes and sizes.This particular galaxy cluster is situated 5 billion light-years away from Earth.As recently as a few decades ago, astronomers thought galaxy clusters were the largest structures in the universe, but in the 1980s, scientists realized galaxy clusters were organized into structures called superclusters.Superclusters are made of groups of clusters that can stretch hundreds of millions of light-years across. Some superclusters cover as much...