ESO
A Star is Orbiting the Milky Way’s Black Hole and Moving Exactly How Einstein Predicted it Should
After almost 30 years of observing a star that orbits the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy,…
Black Holes Were Already Feasting Just 1.5 Billion Years After the Big Bang
Using the ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT), an international team of astronomers observed gas clouds that in the early Universe…
100,000 Supernovae Exploded Near the Core of the Milky Way
Using data from the GALACICNUCLEUS survey, a team of astronomers has determined that star formation occurred in massive bursts in…
Astronomers Find a Galaxy Containing Three Supermassive Black Holes at the Center
NGC 6240 is a puzzle to astronomers. For a long time, astronomers thought the galaxy is a result of a…
Asteroid Hygiea is Round Enough That it Could Qualify as a Dwarf Planet, the Smallest in the Solar System
Using the Very Large Telescope, an international team of astronomers observed Hygeia and determined it could be the smallest dwarf…
Astronomers See Strontium in the Kilonova Wreckage, Proof that Neutron Star Collisions Manufacture Heavy Elements in the Universe
Astronomers have spotted Strontium in the aftermath of a collision between two neutron stars. This is the first time a…
Asteroid 2006 QV89 Now Has a 0% Chance of Hitting Earth in September
Why report on an asteroid that has no chance of hitting Earth? Because this asteroid, known as 2006 QV89, has…
New Instrument is Searching for Planets Around Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri is the closest star system to us, at 4.37 light-years (about 25 trillion miles) away. In 2016, astronomers…
A double asteroid came uncomfortably close this weekend. Here’s what astronomers saw
Using the Very Large Telescope, a team of ESO scientists took some stunningly clear images of a double asteroid that…
Ground-Based Telescope Directly Observes the Atmosphere of an Extrasolar Planet, and Sees Swirling Clouds of Iron and Silicates
We've finally got our first optical look at an exoplanet and its atmosphere, and boy is it a strange place.…