New Atlas

Physics Audio available

Schrödinger's Art: Spooky physics paints microscopic artworks on "quantum canvas"

Michael Irving May 20, 2019

Researchers have produced what may very well be the first pieces of art made using non-classical matter. The team has reproduced classic artworks like the Mona Lisa and Starry Night on a “quantum canvas” as small as a human hair, by projecting light onto Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs).

The Mona Lisa, imaged on a "quantum canvas" that's only as wide as a human hair

Space

Hubble captures the good side of a stunning, scarred "two-faced" galaxy

Michael Irving May 17, 2019

Hubble has been photographing the cosmos for 30 years now, but it still manages to surprise us with some absolutely breathtaking shots. Case in point, the latest image shows the two-faced galaxy NGC 4485, which still bears the stunning scars of a close call with another galaxy millions of years ago.

The galaxy NGC 4485 appears normal on the left side, but on the right it bears ...

Space

Most detailed Hubble image ever captures 265,000 galaxies across the cosmos

Michael Irving May 3, 2019

The Hubble Space Telescope has a knack for making us feel incredibly small. The latest image, named the Hubble Legacy Field, is a mosaic of thousands of exposures over the years and constitutes the largest and most comprehensive image ever put together by the Hubble science team.

The Hubble Legacy Field contains over 265,000 galaxies. Credit: NASA, ESA, G. Illingworth and D. Magee ...

Space Audio available

First direct images of supermassive black hole released

Anthony Wood April 10, 2019

Astronomers have released what could be the historic first images of a supermassive black hole’s event horizon. The enormous black hole is located within the large galaxy M87, and was imaged by a network of powerful observatories that formed a single planet-sized virtual telescope.

The first direct visual evidence of a supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy ...

Space Audio available

Ancient Martian rivers revealed in newest satellite images

Michael Irving February 21, 2019

The Red Planet is notoriously dry and dusty, but its scarred surface shows that that wasn’t always the case. A new set of photos from the ESA's Mars Express orbiter demonstrates some pretty clear evidence of an ancient river network that once wound across the Martian landscape.

ESA's Mars Express orbiter has captured some stunning images of dry riverbeds on Mars

Space

Hubble captures "lost light" to reveal deepest look into the universe yet

Michael Irving January 24, 2019

Astronomers from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) have re-processed an old Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (HUDF) image to find new details. The end result is the deepest image ever taken of the universe from space.

The new Hubble Ultra Deep Field image reveals new details, thanks to the recovery of "lost ...

Space

Weird new landmarks on Ultima Thule come into focus with sharpest image yet

Michael Irving January 24, 2019

On January 1 the New Horizons probe whizzed past Ultima Thule, a tiny world on the fringe of the solar system. The latest image shows the object closer and in higher resolution than ever before. With that improved clarity comes some intriguing new landmarks on the rocky surface.

The latest image of Ultima Thule shows strange pockmarks and light patches

Space

Hubble snaps gargantuan 665 million pixel mosaic of neighboring Triangulum Galaxy

Anthony Wood January 8, 2019

Astronomers have pieced together a massive mosaic of the nearby Triangulum Galaxy from images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. The Vast spiral galaxy is located just three million light-years from Earth, and can be seen by the naked eye on a clear night in a dark sky area.

The new release represents the second largest mosaic ever compiled from Hubble data

Robotics

Artsy robot reproduces images by winding thread

Ben Coxworth September 11, 2018

You've no doubt seen string art before – it consists of images created by running thread between pins on a board. Well, scientists at Austria's Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien) have recently created an algorithm that allows a robot to recreate existing images in string-art form.

Space

Stunning new Hubble panorama spies 15,000 galaxies

Michael Irving August 22, 2018

Astronomers have released one of the most comprehensive photos snapped by the Hubble Space Telescope, combining ultraviolet, infrared and visible light into one image that shows thousands of galaxies spread across space and time.

Hubble has captured an incredible new image of the universe