VLT

The Galactic Beauty of Star Formation

I'd never seen galaxy images like this before. Nobody had! These images highlight star forming regions in nearby(ish) galaxies. There…

3 years ago

Rocky Planet Found With Only Half the Mass of Venus

When it comes to finding exoplanets, size matters, but so does weight.  The larger and heavier the planet, the more…

3 years ago

Incredible! Astronomers see a Moon-Forming Disk Around a Newly Forming Planet

Planetary formation is a complicated, multilayered process.  Even with the influx of data on exoplanets, there are still only two…

3 years ago

Rare Triple Galaxy Merger With at Least Two Supermassive Black Holes

One of the best things about that universe is that there is so much to it.  If you look hard…

3 years ago

Massive Binary Stars Huddle Up Surprisingly Quickly

Dancing is a favorite pastime of many couples.  Swinging around a dance floor, using the laws of physics to twirl…

3 years ago

Those are Exoplanets. You’re Looking at Actual Exoplanets 63 Light-Years Away!

By combining two exoplanet detection methods for the first time ever, the GRAVITY collaboration has confirmed the existence of a…

4 years ago

Wow! An Actual Picture of Multiple Planets Orbiting a Sunlike Star

We've detected thousands of exoplanets, but for the most part, nobody's ever seen them. They're really just data, and graphs…

4 years ago

A Giant Galaxy Seen Lighting Up the Universe Shortly After the Big Bang

The discovery of a bright galaxy that existed 13 billion years ago is shedding light on a period known own…

4 years ago

A 2nd Planet has been Confirmed for Proxima Centauri

Our closest stellar neighbour is Proxima Centauri, a small red dwarf star about 4.2 light years away from us. It's…

4 years ago

Astronomers Can Actually See the Clouds and Weather on Brown Dwarf 6.5 Light-Years Away

Brown dwarfs are in a tough spot. Not quite a star, not quite a planet, they occupy a place between…

4 years ago