ESO
100,000 Supernovae Exploded Near the Core of the Milky Way
Using data from the GALACICNUCLEUS survey, a team of astronomers has determined that star formation occurred in massive bursts in…
Astronomers Find a Galaxy Containing Three Supermassive Black Holes at the Center
NGC 6240 is a puzzle to astronomers. For a long time, astronomers thought the galaxy is a result of a…
Asteroid Hygiea is Round Enough That it Could Qualify as a Dwarf Planet, the Smallest in the Solar System
Using the Very Large Telescope, an international team of astronomers observed Hygeia and determined it could be the smallest dwarf…
Astronomers See Strontium in the Kilonova Wreckage, Proof that Neutron Star Collisions Manufacture Heavy Elements in the Universe
Astronomers have spotted Strontium in the aftermath of a collision between two neutron stars. This is the first time a…
Asteroid 2006 QV89 Now Has a 0% Chance of Hitting Earth in September
Why report on an asteroid that has no chance of hitting Earth? Because this asteroid, known as 2006 QV89, has…
New Instrument is Searching for Planets Around Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri is the closest star system to us, at 4.37 light-years (about 25 trillion miles) away. In 2016, astronomers…
A double asteroid came uncomfortably close this weekend. Here’s what astronomers saw
Using the Very Large Telescope, a team of ESO scientists took some stunningly clear images of a double asteroid that…
Ground-Based Telescope Directly Observes the Atmosphere of an Extrasolar Planet, and Sees Swirling Clouds of Iron and Silicates
We've finally got our first optical look at an exoplanet and its atmosphere, and boy is it a strange place.…
Do You See the “Cosmic Bat” in NGC 1788?
2,000 light years away, in the Orion constellation, lurks an eerie looking creature, made of glowing gas lit up by…
New SPECULOOS Telescope Sees First Light. Soon it’ll be Seeing Habitable Planets Around Ultra-Cool Stars
Our newest planet-hunting telescope is up and running at the ESO's Paranal Observatory in the Atacama Desert in Chile. SPECULOOS,…