New Atlas

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Newly-discovered "super-Earth" is second-closest exoplanet to our Sun

Anthony Wood November 14, 2018

Astronomers have discovered a super-Earth located just six light-years from our planet, orbiting the nearest lone star to our Sun. Named for its parent star, the exoplanet Barnard's Star b has a mass roughly 3.2 times that of the Earth, and has a frigid surface temperature of -170 °C (-274 °F).

Artist's impression of the newly discovered exoplanet orbiting Barnard's Star

Space

ESO telescope stares into the mouth of a cosmic pirate

Anthony Wood October 24, 2018

Astronomers have gazed into the gaping mouth of NGC 2467, also known as the Skull and Crossbones Nebula. The image reveals a cosmic vista populated by young stars and churning clouds of colorful cosmic dust and gas.

NGC 2467, as seen by the FORS2 instrument mounted on the ESO's Very Large Telescope

Space

Astronomers discover celestial titan from the early universe

Anthony Wood October 17, 2018

Astronomers have discovered and mapped an enormous structure in the early universe with a mass the equivalent to one million billion times that of the Sun. The proto-supercluster, which has been named Hyperion after the Titan of Greek mythology, formed when the cosmos was only 2.3 billion years old.

Visualization of Hyperion constructed from data collected by the VIMOS instrument

Space

Exquisite spiral galaxy shines in new ESO image

Anthony Wood September 12, 2018

Astronomers have captured a striking view of the galaxy NGC 3981, which is revealed shining with the light of energetic stars, surrounded by its ghostly spiral arms. Located roughly 65 million light-years from Earth, it appears to have been disrupted by a close call with a neighboring galaxy.

NGC 3981 imaged by the FORS2 instrument mounted on the ESO's Very Large Telescope

Space

VISTA gazes through the Carina Nebula's dusty veil

Anthony Wood August 29, 2018

The ESO's VISTA telescope has captured a breath-taking view of the Carina Nebula – one of the Milky Way’s largest star-forming regions. The image reveals the complexity of the nebula hidden behind its dusty shroud, and showcases some of the most massive and brightest stars in our galaxy.

The Carina Nebula captured in infrared light by the ESO's VISTA telescope

Space

Adaptive optics lifts Earth's atmospheric veil to reveal a sharper cosmos

Anthony Wood July 18, 2018

Astronomers at the Paranal Observatory in Chile have achieved first light with a cutting-edge adaptive optics mode for the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT), designed to remove interference caused by Earth’s atmosphere.

Images showing Neptune captured using the new adaptive optics mode, and another with it switched off

Space

Baby pictures: Very Large Telescope snaps first ever image of a newborn planet

Michael Irving July 2, 2018

Astronomers have snapped the first confirmed image of a planet still in the process of forming. The newborn, named PDS 70b, was spotted by the ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) as a bright splotch in the cloud of dust surrounding a young star.

Space

Stellar fireworks: Mesmerizing nebulae from our galaxy and beyond

Michael Irving June 15, 2018

Like fireworks that linger for millennia, nebulae are some of the most photogenic objects in the universe. These vast clouds of dust and gas represent both the birth and death of stars. New Atlas has collected some of the most breathtaking nebula images ever taken.

The Veil Nebula, located about 2,100 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus, is a ...

Space

Astronomers capture exquisite view of Tarantula Nebula

Anthony Wood May 30, 2018

Astronomers have captured the most detailed view to date of the region of space surrounding the famous Tarantula Nebula – a 1,000 light-year wide swirling cloud of cosmic gas, the core of which is illuminated by some of the brightest and most massive stars ever detected.

Mosaic view of the Tarantula Nebula and its surroundings

Space

New studies find TRAPPIST-1 planets are probably rocky, watery worlds

Michael Irving February 5, 2018

Just 40 light-years away, TRAPPIST-1 is one of the clearest case studies into how other planetary systems work. New research has calculated the densities and atmospheres of the planets, giving us a better understanding of how they might look and how much water might be there.

An artist's rendition, to scale, of how the TRAPPIST-1 planets would compare to Earth