Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live on a planet that orbits two stars?It could have been our imagination to think, but until recently, it was thought to be something that only existed in the realm of science fiction. That is, until the discovery of Kepler-64b or PH1.  PH1 is the first reported case of a planet orbiting a double-star system, which is then orbited by a second pair of stars. This phenomenon is called a circumbinary planet in a four-star system. PH1 is a bit larger than Neptune and is thought to be a gas giant. It orbits its host stars every 137 days and is 900 times farther from its star than Earth is from our sun.  This planet’s discovery has been revolutionary for the astronomy community. The discovery of PH1 was made possible by volunteers from the Planet Hunters citizen science project. This project has allowed everyday citizens to contribute to cutting edge astronomical research and make amazing discoveries like PH1.  The planet'...

  One of the strangest things in the cosmos might be us. Among the thousands of planets known to be orbiting around other stars, a planet with Earth’s same size and similar distance from its star has yet to be found. This is likely due to the technical difficulty of finding such a sister planet, since our current telescopes can only detect planets through two main methods: wobbles and shadows. Thus, the planet that lies beneath our feet appears to be a unique and mysterious anomaly among the many cosmic wonders that have been discovered in the universe. It is this special and strange nature of our planet that makes it such a remarkable and awe-inspiring part of the cosmos; we are truly a special place in an ever-expanding universe. The “wobble” method, or radial velocity, is an effective planet-hunting tool used to uncover the presence of orbiting planets using the subtle back-and-forth motion caused by gravity. This tugging motion between a star and its orbiting planet can be dete...

  The Hubble Space Telescope has produced a image of Sirius A and its faint companion Sirius B, two stars in our night sky. At the center of the image is the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius A.To the bottom left we can see the tiny dot of Sirius B, which would’ve gone undetected without its overexposure. The cross-shaped diffraction spikes and concentric rings around Sirius A,and the small ring around Sirius B are artifacts produced by the telescope’s imaging system. The two stars are in a binary star system, meaning they revolve around each other in an elliptical orbit every 50 years. Sirius A is located 8.6 light-years away from Earth and is the fifth closest star system known. Sirius B is a white dwarf star, a small remnant of a star similar to our sun that has exhausted its nuclear fuel sources and collapsed down to a fraction of its original size. It is 10,000 times fainter than Sirius A and its feeble light makes it very hard to observe from Earth. Fortunately for us, ...

  Gazing up at the night sky, it is easy to be struck by a sense of awe and wonder. We can see galaxies trillions of miles away, the closest of which is our own Milky Way. But what about galaxies that lie beyond our own? One such galaxy is ESO 300-16, a ghostly assemblage of stars 28.7 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Eridanus. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has captured an image of this distant galaxy, which resembles a sparkling cloud. Included in the image are other distant galaxies and foreground stars making this an astronomical portrait of the cosmos.  This picture is part of a series of observations aimed at getting to know our galactic neighbors. Hubble has been able to observe around three-quarters of the known galaxies within 10 megaparsecs (or 30.9 trillion kilometers) from Earth, enough to detect the brightest stars and measure the distance of these galaxies. A team of astronomers has even proposed using gaps in Hubble’s schedule to observe ...

  The Hubble Space Telescope has in 2019 provided data that significantly reduces the chance that the current expansion rate of the Universe, as measured by Hubble, does not match the expected rate based on conditions from shortly after the Big Bang over 13 billion years ago.The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has revolutionized the way we calculate accurate distances to galaxies, by observing Cepheid variables in the Large Magellanic Cloud. These pulsating stars act as milepost markers, which researchers can use to measure how fast the Universe is expanding over time - a value known as the Hubble constant. Before Hubble was launched in 1990, estimates of the Hubble constant varied greatly, but thanks to its precision observations, the uncertainty was reduced to 10% by the late 1990s. Subsequent refinements have further reduced that uncertainty to a remarkable 1.9%, allowing scientists to gain a greater understanding of the cosmos. This research suggests that the discrepancy betwee...

  NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team has begun the important process of integrating and testing the spacecraft’s electrical cabling, or harness. This harness plays a crucial role in connecting the various components of the observatory, since it enables different parts of the observatory to communicate with one , while also another  providing power and helping the central computer monitor the observatory’s function via an array of sensors. Thus, this important step brings the mission a step closer to its launch by May 2027, when it will survey billions of cosmic objects and untangle mysteries like dark energy. According to Deneen Ferro, the Roman harness project development lead at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, “Just as the nervous system carries signals throughout the human body, Roman’s harness connects its components, providing both power and commands to each electronic box and instrument. Without a harness, there is no spacecraft.” Cl...

  NASA’s Parker Solar Probe zoomed past Venus on Aug. 21, using the planet’s gravity to aim toward a record-setting series of flights around the Sun that start next month. The spacecraft was moving at a speed of 15 miles per second, and passed 2,487 miles above the Venusian surface as it curved around the planet. The mission operations team at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland kept in contact with the spacecraft during the flyby through NASA’s Deep Space Network and determined that it was on course and functioning properly.  Except for an 8 minute period when Venus blocked communication between the spacecraft and Earth, the mission operations team were able to successfully monitor and track the probe’s progress. The flyby marks a significant step towards Parker Solar Probe's goal of exploring the Sun's atmosphere, and hopefully uncovering answers to some of its biggest mysteries. Nick Pinkine, Parker Solar Probe mission operations manager from APL, recen...

  Where we dive deep into the incredible discovery of Barnard's Star b,the second-closest known exoplanet to Earth.This icy, dimly-lit world was discovered through data collected by a world-wide array of telescopes, including the European Southern Observatory’s planet-hunting HARPS instrument. Astronomers were able to measure the star's wobble—the effect of the planet's orbit on the star—with extreme precision, accounting for movements as small as 2 miles per hour. What's more, Barnard's Star is the fastest moving star in the night sky, travelling about 310,000 mph (500,000 kilometers) per hour in relation to our Sun, or the width of the Moon every 180 years. The data indicate that Barnard's Star b is likely a super Earth, with a mass at least three times that of our own planet. But due to its distance from its host star—Barnard's Star is a red dwarf which only dimly illuminates its planet—it receives only 2% of the energy that we receive from the Sun. This ...

  Whether the Milky Way is made up of different ‘province’ or regions that each have their own unique families of planets? It turns out the answer is yes! A new study has found that stars on the fringes of the Milky Way possess fewer of the most common planet types. This finding suggests that the process of planet formation – and the resulting families of planets – could be different from one galactic neighborhood to the next.  To come to this conclusion, astronomers conducted a meticulous survey of planet populations in our galaxy. They found that stars far away from the galactic plane – the thicker, pancake-like concentration of stars that is home to the densest stellar populations – show a notable lack of two of the most common types of planets.  The two planets in question are “super-Earths” and “sub-Neptunes”, which are hulking versions of our own rocky planet (super-Earths) and smaller versions of our own Neptune (sub-Neptunes). This means that these two types of pl...

The images of the Ring Nebula obtained by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have been a source of great excitement for astronomers and stargazers alike. This spectacular planetary nebula is one of the best-known examples of a star’s final stage of life, and Webb’s observation of it has revealed intricate structures that have given us valuable insights into the formation and evolution of these objects. According to Roger Wesson from Cardiff University, understanding planetary nebulae is crucial for understanding the lifecycle of a Sun-like star. Planetary nebulae are formed when a star reaches old age and its outer layers of gas are expelled. This gas is heated by the residual heat of the dying star at its centre, and forms a bright nebula that can be seen from Earth.  Webb’s images of the Ring Nebula have revealed details about this process that would not have been possible to observe with other telescopes. It has shown us that the shape of planetary nebulae varies greatly, ranging...

  As someone who is interested in astronomy, I am awestruck by image captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of the distant galaxy, ESO 300-16. This stunning celestial object is located 28.7 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Eridanus and looks like a sparkling cloud due to its assemblage of stars. When I gaze at this image, I cannot help but feel inspired by the mysterious depths of the universe and its myriad wonders. ESO 300-16 is one of the galaxies that have been observed in detail by Hubble to measure their distances and to identify their brightest stars. The task of getting to know these galaxies that lie within 10 megaparsecs of Earth has been a challenging one, and astronomers have used gaps in Hubble’s schedule to observe the remaining quarter of nearby galaxies.  But what is a megaparsec? It is a unit used by astronomers to measure very large distances in the universe, equal to one million parsecs. Parallax is a small shift that stars appear...

The two galaxies, NGC 5394 and 5395, are an example of how interactions on the galactic scale take place over millions of years. This image released by the Gemini Observatory shows the two galaxies in a slow and intimate dance, as they have already “collided” at least once, though their shape has only been deformed by the gravitational pull.  This interaction creates a beautiful phenomenon of hydrogen coalescing into regions of star formation, visible as reddish clumps scattered around the larger galaxy. These stellar nurseries are a reminder of the complexity and beauty of the universe and its interactions.  The galaxies were first observed by William Herschel in 1787, in the same year he discovered two moons of Uranus. To this day, when people look upon them they imagine a Heron – with its beak preying upon a fish.  The dance of these two galaxies is an example of how our universe is dependent upon interactions, from the tiniest subatomic particles to the largest cluste...

  In 2008,a massive cluster of yellowish galaxies appears to have been caught in a spider web of eerily distorted background galaxies, in an image taken by the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The gravity of the cluster's trillion stars functions as a cosmic “zoom lens,” bending and magnifying the light of the galaxies far behind it, a technique known as gravitational lensing.  The faraway galaxies appear as arc-shaped objects around the cluster, named Abell 1689. The increased magnification provided by the lens allows astronomers to study extremely distant galaxies in greater detail.  One galaxy, dubbed A1689-zD1, is so far away that it does not show up in the visible-light image taken with ACS. However, its light is stretched to invisible infrared wavelengths by the universe's expansion. To observe this remote galaxy, astronomers used both Hubble's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) and NASA's Spitzer...

  Have you ever wondered what lies beyond our galaxy and our solar system? Well, one of the most fascinating discoveries made by the Hubble Space Telescope is massive cluster Abell 3322, a massive galaxy cluster located in the constellation Pictor, around 2.6 billion light-years away, in which the galaxy 2MASX J05101744-4519179 basks in the center. Its beauty and complexity is revealed in this stunning image captured by Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 and the Advanced Camera for Surveys.  So, what makes Abell 3322 stand out from other clusters? Well, its size and luminosity at X-ray wavelengths make for a truly impressive sight. Weighing in at 2.6 billion light-years away, this immense cosmic leviathan contains hundreds of galaxies, within a radius of 1.4 million light-years, something that was only made possible with Hubble’s powerful instruments.  The sheer size of Abell 3322 also provides us with some fascinating insights into the evolution of galaxies and their interacti...

  Astronomers have made a remarkable discovery – a connection between Neptune’s shifting cloud abundance and the 11-year solar cycle. This cycle, which is marked by the waxing and waning of the Sun’s magnetic fields, drives solar activity. The link between Neptune and solar activity is especially interesting because Neptune is in the distant reaches of our solar system, and receives only 0.1% of the sunlight that Earth does. And yet it seems that solar activity is influencing the planet’s cloud cover, rather than its four seasons, which each last around 40 years. This connection was discovered by a team of astronomers led by Imke de Pater, who is an emeritus professor of astronomy at the University of California (UC) Berkeley. The team observed data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii, and the Lick Observatory in California for 30 years. They noted that the clouds normally seen at Neptune’s mid-latitudes began to fade in 2019. This finding came ...

  We are on the cusp of a new era of space exploration and discovery with the upcoming XRISM (X-ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission) spacecraft. Developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), XRISM is a cutting-edge mission that will explore some of the furthest reaches of the universe. It will investigate hot regions, the largest structures, and objects with powerful gravity. Spectroscopy is a scientific technique that studies how light and matter interact, and it plays a major role in XRISM's mission. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center video producer Sophia Roberts has delved into this field of astronomy and has some amazing insight to share. “The images from missions like NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope are awe-inspiring,” Roberts said. “But when you understand the science behind spectroscopy, it helps bring to life the stories behind those incredible images.” XRISM is poised to open up a new world of knowledge about our universe. Its massive X-ray telescope will p...

  The X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (Krizz-em)! Scheduled for launch in August 2023, this collaborative mission between JAXA, NASA, and ESA will be studying the gas in galaxy clusters, the chemical enrichment of the universe, and extreme physics around accreting supermassive black holes. The mission consists of two parts: XRISM’s Resolve instrument, which will be used to observe and analyze X-rays from these distant galaxies, and SRON’s Resolve Filter Wheel Mechanism (RFWM), which will be used to filter out background radiation. The RFWM is a special device designed by the University of Geneva in Switzerland and SRON in the Netherlands. It consists of a filter wheel with multiple filters that can be adjusted to block out certain frequencies of radiation. This will allow scientists to more accurately observe X-rays from these galaxies. The spacecraft will also carry several other components, including loop heat pipes for XRISM’s Resolve instrument, a star tracker (to tell t...

  The discovery of HD 131399Ab has astounded astronomers. Not only is this the widest orbit within a multi-star system yet located, but it means other planets with similarly wide orbits could exist in similar star systems. The discovered July 2016 in, planet orbits a triple-star system, and for much of its year the stars can be seen close together in the sky. This means that each day offers a unique triple sunset and sunrise. As the planet moves along its orbit, however, the stars grow further apart – until they reach a point where one sets as another rises. This creates a period of near-constant daytime on the planet, lasting for about one-quarter of its orbit, or roughly 140 Earth-years. The idea of two suns in the sky is familiar to many thanks to the Star Wars franchise; Luke Skywalker’s home planet, Tatooine, was a strange world with two suns in the sky. However, HD 131399Ab takes this concept to the next level. Imagine being able to witness two sunsets and one sunrise every s...

  2MASX J05101744-4519179, a massive galaxy cluster located in the constellation Pictor,This distant galaxy cluster is an incredible sight for astronomers, with its luminous X-ray emissions and powerful gravitational lenses. Here we will discuss the unique features of this galaxy cluster and how they are helping us to better understand the evolution of dark and luminous matter in the universe. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has provided us with an amazing image of 2MASX J05101744-4519179, which reveals its immense size and power. This massive galaxy cluster is estimated to be around 2.6 billion light-years away from Earth, making it incredibly distant. In order to capture this image, two of Hubble’s instruments had to be combined – the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). WFC3 was designed for a wide range of electromagnetic spectrums, while ACS was specifically built to capture visible light. The construction of Hubble featured a tiny error in...

  India has been at the forefront of space exploration and is all set to launch Aditya L1 – its first ever space based mission to study the Sun. The mission will be launched in a halo orbit around the Lagrange Point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system, located at a distance of 1.5 million kilometers from the Earth. This location gives Aditya L1 an edge over other satellites since it will have an uninterrupted view of the Sun without any eclipses or occultations. Aditya L1 carries seven specialized payloads designed to study the photosphere, chromosphere and outermost layers of the Sun (the corona). These payloads use electromagnetic waves and particle and magnetic field detectors to observe solar activities and their effect on space weather in real time. The four direct viewing payloads allow for a closeup look at the Sun and the remaining three are in-situ studies that examine particles and fields at L1. This mission provides a unique opportunity to understand more about the process of...