Astronomers using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have found the building blocks of solid exoplanets that are capable of having substantial amounts of water. This rocky debris, currently orbiting a white dwarf star called GD 61, is considered a relic of an exoplanetary system that survived the burnout of its parent star. The finding suggests [continue reading]
The sight of a snowfall can thrill children, but the first-ever snow line seen around a distant star gives astronomers an even greater thrill because of what it reveals about the formation of planets and our Solar System’s history. Artist concept of snow line in TW Hydrae showing water covered ice grains in the [continue reading]
Large impacts of asteroids may have transferred carbonaceous material to the protoplanet and inner Solar System The protoplanet Vesta has been witness to an eventful past: images taken by the framing camera onboard NASA’s space probe Dawn show two enormous craters in the southern hemisphere. The images were obtained during Dawn’s year-long visit [continue reading]
By combining the power of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope, and one of nature’s own natural “zoom lenses” in space, astronomers have set a new distance record for finding the farthest galaxy yet seen in the Universe. In this image, astronomers use NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and a cosmic zoom lens to [continue reading]
Dust is an annoyance in everyday life, but an important building block of stars and planets. As such, astronomers need to understand how cosmic dust forms over time — it’s an integral step in figuring out the evolution of galaxies, and the stars and planets within them. A small portion of one of the [continue reading]
The start of the Universe should be modeled not as a Big Bang but more like water freezing into ice, according to a team of theoretical physicists at the University of Melbourne and RMIT University. Ice cracks. Image Credit: katieantarctica They have suggested that by investigating the cracks and crevices common to all crystals [continue reading]