News
Science News
Anemic Galaxy Reveals Deficiencies in Ultra-Diffuse Galaxy Formation Theory
Strange Features of a Newly Discovered Ghostly Galaxy Deepen Mystery of How UDGs are Born Maunakea, Hawaii – A team of astronomers led by the University of California Observatories (UCO) have studied in great detail a galaxy so faint and in such pristine condition it has acted as a time capsule, sealed shortly after the […]
Read More >
Citizen Scientist Finds Ancient White Dwarf Star Encircled by Puzzling Rings
Maunakea, Hawaii – A volunteer working with the NASA-led Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project has found the oldest and coldest known white dwarf — an Earth-sized remnant of a Sun-like star that has died — ringed by dust and debris. Astronomers suspect this could be the first known white dwarf with multiple dust rings. The star, named LSPM […]
Read More >
Birth of a Black Hole or Neutron Star Captured for the First Time
Hawaii Telescopes Help Astronomers Identify Mysterious Glowing ‘Cow’ in the Sky Maunakea, Hawaii – A Northwestern University-led international team of astronomers is getting closer to understanding the mysterious bright object that burst in the northern sky this summer, dubbed AT2018cow or ‘The Cow.’ With the help of W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, Hawaii and […]
Read More >
Astronomers Uncover the Brightest Lensed Quasar in the Early Universe
Maunakea, Hawaii – Astronomers have discovered the brightest gravitationally lensed object ever seen at a time when the universe was less than one billion years old. With the help of multiple, world-class telescopes in Hawaii – Gemini Observatory, James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT), United Kingdom Infra-Red Telescope (UKIRT), and W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, […]
Read More >
Nature’s Magnifying Glass Reveals Unexpected Intermediate Mass Exoplanets
Microlensing Reveals Sub-Saturn Giant Planets are Common, Not Rare Maunakea, Hawaii – Astronomers have found a new exoplanet that could alter the standing theory of planet formation. With a mass that’s between that of Neptune and Saturn, and its location beyond the “snow line” of its host star, an alien world of this scale was […]
Read More >
Young Star Caught in a Fit of Growth
New Visible and Infrared Observations of Young Star Reveal Clues About How It Bulks Up Maunakea, Hawaii – Researchers have discovered a young star in the midst of a rare growth spurt—a dramatic phase of stellar evolution when matter swirling around a star falls onto the star, bulking up its mass. The star belongs to […]
Read More >
Fossil from the Big Bang Discovered with W. M. Keck Observatory
Rare Relic is One of Only Three Fossil Clouds Known in the Universe Maunakea, Hawaii – A relic cloud of gas, orphaned after the Big Bang, has been discovered in the distant universe by astronomers using the world’s most powerful optical telescope, the W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, Hawaii. The discovery of such a […]
Read More >
Exoplanet Stepping Stones
Researchers are Perfecting Technology to One Day Look for Signs of Alien Life Summary: New observations of a young gas giant demonstrate the power of a ground-based method for searching for signatures of life. Maunakea, Hawaii – Astronomers have gleaned some of the best data yet on the composition of a planet known as HR […]
Read More >
Astronomers Find Possible Elusive Star Behind Supernova
Maunakea, Hawaii – Astronomers may have finally uncovered the long-sought progenitor to a specific type of exploding star by sifting through NASA Hubble Space Telescope archival data and conducting follow-up observations using W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii. The supernova, known as a type Ic, is thought to detonate after a massive star has shed […]
Read More >
Super-Earth Discovered Orbiting the Sun’s Famous Stellar Neighbor
PLANET ORBITS BARNARD’S STAR, THE CLOSEST SINGLE STAR TO THE SUN Maunakea, Hawaii – At only six light-years away, Barnard’s star has fascinated exoplanet hunters since the 1960’s, largely due to its extreme proximity to us. It is the closest single star to the sun and second closest stellar system only to the Alpha Centauri […]
Read More >
