All posts tagged: Telescopes

A Galaxy Composed Almost Entirely of Dark Matter Has Been Confirmed

A Galaxy Composed Almost Entirely of Dark Matter Has Been Confirmed

Astronomers have just identified what appears to be a cosmic anomaly: a faint galaxy with so few visible stars that, according to calculations, as much as 99.9 percent of its mass is dark matter. The remaining 0.1 percent is conventional matter. This galaxy, located about 300 million light-years away, is practically invisible. Only four globular clusters, small concentrations of stars that look like isolated neighborhoods in the middle of the void, stand out. For years, these star collections in the Perseus cluster were considered independent objects. Candidate Dark Galaxy-2 is only visible through four globular clusters that contribute to 16 percent of its total brightness. Scientists believe 99.9 percent of this galaxy is dark matter. NASA/ESA Now, after an exhaustive analysis, a study published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters presents solid evidence that these globular clusters are part of the same galaxy dominated by dark matter. Tentatively named CDG-2 (Candidate Dark Galaxy-2), it is the first galaxy to be detected only by its brightest fragments. The authors pooled data from the Hubble, Euclid, and Subaru …

Radio telescopes reveal the final years of a rare exploding star

Radio telescopes reveal the final years of a rare exploding star

Astronomers have discovered the first radio signals from a unique category of dying stars, called Type Ibn supernovae, and these signals offer new insights into how massive stars meet their demise. This new study provides an unprecedented level of detail about the last stages of stellar evolution. “The radio observations show us what the last ten years of a star’s life looked like, and how much it lost in mass during that time,” explains Raphael Baer-Way, a third-year PhD student studying astronomy at the University of Virginia, who led the research team working at the NSF’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array in New Mexico, along with several other radio telescopes tracking the first few months of faint radio emission from supernova SN 2023fyq. “Our observations allowed us to experience the last decade of the star’s life leading up to its explosion in real time, a true time machine,” says Baer-Way. “Because we were able to detect the radio emission from SN 2023fyq, we will be able to learn more about the dying star’s mass-loss …

James Webb and Hubble Space Telescopes snap images of same nebula, 10 years apart

James Webb and Hubble Space Telescopes snap images of same nebula, 10 years apart

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. In 2015, NASA celebrated the Hubble Space Telescope’s 25th year in orbit by releasing one of its most stunning images to date—a colorful star cluster in the constellation Carina known as Westerlund 2. However, a lot can change in a decade. In January 2023, the HST’s observational capabilities were overtaken when the powerful James Webb Space Telescope imaged the same star cluster. While the HST is still a powerful piece of equipment, the European Space Agency decided to showcase its heir’s technological leaps by closing out 2025 with a new, even more detailed glimpse at Westerlund 2. The billowing, vibrantly visualized formation located 20,000 light-years from Earth were imaged using the JWST’s Near-InfraRed Camera (NIRCam) and its Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI). Westerlund 2 is estimated to stretch between 6 and 13 light-years across, and features some of the galaxy’s hottest, brightest, and most massive stars. To fully appreciate the difference between what HST and JWST can see of the cosmos, the ESA …