ALMA Observatory
A Star Became 1,000 Times Brighter, and Now Astronomers Know Why
Astronomers were surprised in 1937 when a star in a binary pair suddenly brightened by 1,000 times. The pair is…
If Europa has Geysers, They’re Very Faint
In 2013, the Hubble Space Telescope spotted water vapour on Jupiter's moon Europa. The vapour was evidence of plumes similar…
Astronomers Propose a 50-Meter Submillimeter Telescope
Some parts of the Universe only reveal important details when observed in radio waves. That explains why we have ALMA,…
Astronomers Image 62 Newly-Forming Planetary Systems
Astronomers using the Very Large Telescope in Chile have now completed one of the largest surveys ever to hunt for…
Astronomers See Massive Stars Forming Together in Multiple Star Systems
All stars form in giant molecular clouds of hydrogen. But some stars are extraordinarily massive; the most massive one we…
The Youngest Planetary Disks Ever Seen
How long does planet formation take? Maybe not as long as we thought, according to new research. Observations with the…
Young Stars in the Outskirts of Galaxies Finally Have an Explanation
Star formation is well understood when it happens in the populous centers of galaxies. From our vantage point on Earth,…
The Oldest Known Spiral Galaxy Has Ripples Like the Surface of a Pond
Astronomers have detected pond-like ripples across the gaseous disk of an ancient galaxy. What caused the ripples, and what do…
ALMA Takes Next-Level Images of a Protoplanetary Disk
The ESO's Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is perched high in the Chilean Andes. ALMA is made of 66 high-precision…
Sometimes Compact Galaxies Hide Their Black Holes
Quasars, short for quasi-stellar objects, are one of the most powerful and luminous classes of objects in our Universe. A…