ESO

ESO Telescopes Observe First Light from Gravitational Wave Source 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- July 1, 2021
ESO’s fleet of telescopes in Chile have detected the first visible counterpart to a gravitational wave source. These historic observations suggest that this unique object is the result of the merger of two neutron stars. The cataclysmic aftermaths of this kind of merger — long-predicted events called kilonovae — disperse heavy elements such as gold and platinum throughout the Universe. This discovery, published in several papers in the journal Nature and elsewhere, also provides the strongest evidence yet that short-duration gamma-ray bursts are caused by mergers of neutron stars.

By David Aragorn
Astronomers report two new space oddities 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- October 15, 2020
Death by spaghettification and a stellar peacock.

By David Aragorn
ESO telescopes record the final moments of a star being consumed by a black hole 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- October 14, 2020
Telescopes at the European Southern Observatory and other organizations worldwide have spied a rare blast of light originating from a star as it was being ripped apart by a supermassive black hole.

By David Aragorn
See the ‘space butterfly’ astronomers captured from thousands of light years away 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- August 4, 2020
Thousands of light years away, there’s a “space butterfly” colored with brilliant blues and clouds of purple and red. It’s an image we’ve never seen in this much detail before.

By David Aragorn
The 15 Weirdest Galaxies in Our Universe 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- November 6, 2019
The universe contains somewhere in the ballpark of 100 billion and 200 billion galaxies. With numbers that large, you can bet that there are some real weirdos out there. Out beyond our Milky Way, there are galaxies shaped like jellyfish, galaxies that consume other galaxies, and galaxies that seem to lack the dark matter that pervades the rest of the universe.

By David Aragorn
A Fleeting Moment in Time 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- January 24, 2019
European Southern Observatory’s Cosmic Gems Programme captures last breath of a dying star

By David Aragorn
ALMA and MUSE Detect Galactic Fountain 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- November 7, 2018
Observations by ALMA and data from the MUSE spectrograph on ESO’s VLT have revealed a colossal fountain of molecular gas powered by a black hole in the brightest galaxy of the Abell 2597 cluster — the full galactic cycle of inflow and outflow powering this vast cosmic fountain has never before been observed in one system.

By David Aragorn
Largest Galaxy Proto-Supercluster Found 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- October 17, 2018
Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope uncover a cosmic titan lurking in the early Universe

By David Aragorn
First Confirmed Image of Newborn Planet Caught with ESO’s VLT 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- July 4, 2018
SPHERE, a planet-hunting instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope, has captured the first confirmed image of a planet caught in the act of forming in the dusty disc surrounding a young star. The young planet is carving a path through the primordial disc of gas and dust around the very young star PDS 70. The data suggest that the planet’s atmosphere is cloudy.

By David Aragorn
ESO’s VLT Sees `Oumuamua Getting a Boost 0
- From Around the Web, Space
- June 28, 2018
New results indicate interstellar nomad `Oumuamua is a comet

By David Aragorn