Page 207 | Sci.News: Breaking Science News

This artist’s impression shows the merger of two white dwarfs. Image credit: Nicole Reindl, University of Potsdam.

Astronomers Discover New Type of Subdwarf Star

Feb 14, 2022 by News Staff

Astronomers using the Large Binocular Telescope have discovered two unusual hot subdwarf stars: PG 1654+322 and PG 1528+025. While normal stars have surfaces...

$An artist’s impression of Confractosuchus sauroktonos attacking an ornithopod dinosaur. Image credit: Julius Csotonyi / White et al., doi: 10.1016/j.gr.2022.01.016.$

Cretaceous Crocodiles Ate Ornithopod Dinosaurs, Fossil Evidence Shows

Feb 14, 2022 by Sergio Prostak

Paleontologists have unearthed the fossilized skeletal remains of Confractosuchus sauroktonos, a previously unknown genus and species of crocodyliform,...

This image, taken by the SPHERE/IFS instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in 2016, shows three satellites (S1 in red circle, S2 in green, and S3 in blue) of the main-belt asteroid (130) Elektra. Image credit: Berdeu et al., doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202142623.

Astronomers Find First-Ever Quadruple Asteroid

Feb 14, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Astronomers have discovered a third moon orbiting the main-belt asteroid (130) Elektra, making it the first quadruple asteroid ever found. This image,...

This mosaic, taken by the NIRCam instrument onboard the James Webb Space Telescope, shows 18 images of the same star. Image credit: NASA.

James Webb Space Telescope Spots Its First Star

Feb 14, 2022 by News Staff

Each dot visible in this image mosaic from the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) instrument onboard the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope is the same...

This composite image shows the distant galaxy merger IC 2431. The image is composed of infrared, optical and ultraviolet observations from Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) on the Victor M. Blanco 4-m Telescope, and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Nine filters were used to sample various wavelengths. The color results from assigning different hues to each monochromatic image associated with an individual filter. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / W. Keel, Dark Energy Survey / DOE / FNAL / DECam / CTIO / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA / SDSS / Judy Schmidt, www.geckzilla.com.

Hubble Observes Triple Galaxy Merger: IC 2431

Feb 14, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

The Hubble team has released an incredibly beautiful shot of IC 2431, a distant trio of merging galaxies located in the constellation of Cancer. This composite...

An artist’s impression of the white dwarf star WD 1054-226 orbited by clouds of planetary debris and a major planet in the habitable zone. Image credit: Mark A. Garlick / www.markgarlick.com.

Astronomers Find Planetary Bodies in Habitable Zone of White Dwarf

Feb 11, 2022 by News Staff

Using the ULTRACAM instrument on ESO’s 3.5-m New Technology Telescope and NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), astronomers have observed...

View of Grotte Mandrin, France. Image credit: Ludovic Slimak.

54,000-Year-Old Molar is Earliest Known Evidence of Anatomically Modern Humans in Western Europe

Feb 11, 2022 by News Staff

In a new paper published this week in the journal Science Advances, paleoanthropologists report hominin fossils from Grotte Mandrin in France that reveal...

Jurassic Long-Necked Dinosaur Suffered from Aspergillosis-Like Respiratory Infection

Feb 11, 2022 by News Staff

The pulmonary disease infecting this diplodocine dinosaur, nicknamed ‘Dolly,’ would not been externally evident, but the probable pneumonia-like outward...

The diversity of the Steller’s sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas) was already declining some 900 to 800 years before its discovery by Georg Wilhelm Steller. Image credit: R. Ellis.

Genetic Secrets of Steller’s Sea Cow Revealed

Feb 11, 2022 by News Staff

An international team of researchers has extracted and analyzed ancient DNA from fragmentary remains of 12 individuals of the Steller’s sea cow (Hydrodamalis...

Density distribution of the 550 galaxies in the COSMOS UltraVISTA DR3 catalog (cyan circles). The two ultramassive galaxies, COS-DR3-179370 (in MAGAZ3NE J0959) and COS-DR3-160748 (in MAGAZ3NE J1000), are shown by blue and green stars, respectively. Image credit: McConachie et al., doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac2b9f.

Two Protoclusters of Galaxies Spotted in Early Universe

Feb 10, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Each of the two newly-discovered protoclusters, MAGAZ3NE J095924+022537 and MAGAZ3NE J100028+023349 (MAGAZ3NE J0959 and MAGAZ3NE J1000 for short), hosts...

Life reconstruction of Mambawakale ruhuhu. Image credit: Gabriel Ugueto.

New Triassic Archosaur Species Identified in Tanzania

Feb 10, 2022 by News Staff

The pseudosuchian archosaur Mambawakale ruhuhu is among the larger-headed archosaurs from the Middle to Late Triassic. Life reconstruction of Mambawakale...

An artist’s impression of the G29-38 white dwarf, accreting planetary material from a circumstellar debris disk; when the planetary material hits the white dwarf surface, a plasma is formed and cools via detectable X-ray emission. Image credit: Mark Garlick / University of Warwick.

White Dwarf Spotted Eating Planetary Debris

Feb 10, 2022 by News Staff

Astronomers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have detected five X-ray events from G29-38, which is among the 100 closest white dwarfs. Their results...

When flying past Venus on July 11, 2020, the WISPR instrument onboard Parker Solar Probe detected a bright rim around the edge of the planet that may be nightglow. The prominent dark feature in the center of the image is Aphrodite Terra, the largest highland region on the Venusian surface. Bright streaks in WISPR, such as the ones seen here, are typically caused by a combination of cosmic rays, sunlight reflected by grains of space dust, and particles of material expelled from the spacecraft’s structures after impact with those dust grains. The number of streaks varies along the orbit or when the spacecraft is traveling at different speeds, and scientists are still in discussion about the specific origins of the streaks here. The dark spot appearing on the lower portion of Venus is an artifact from the WISPR instrument. Image credit: NASA / Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory / Naval Research Laboratory / Guillermo Stenborg / Brendan Gallagher.

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Captures Stunning Images of Venus’ Night Side

Feb 10, 2022 by News Staff

During two gravity-assist flybys on July 11, 2020 and February 20, 2021, the Wide-Field Imager for Parker Solar Probe (WISPR) imager on board NASA’s...

An artist’s impression of Proxima d. Image credit: ESO / L. Calçada.

Potential Third Planet Discovered Orbiting Proxima Centauri

Feb 10, 2022 by Natali Anderson

Using data from the Echelle SPectrograph for Rocky Exoplanets and Stable Spectroscopic Observations (ESPRESSO) on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers...

This infrared image, taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, shows an aurora at the southern pole of Saturn. Image credit: NASA / Cassini / VIMS Team / University of Arizona / University of Leicester / JPL / ASI.

Weather Drives Saturn’s Powerful Aurorae, Planetary Scientists Say

Feb 9, 2022 by News Staff

Saturn is unique among planets observed to date in that some of its aurorae are generated by swirling winds within its atmosphere, and not just from the...

Retinosaurus hkamtiensis, which was approximately 3.5 cm (1.4 inches) in length, prior to being trapped in tree resin 110 million years ago. Image credit: Stephanie Abramowicz.

110-Million-Year-Old Lizard Found in Burmese Amber

Feb 9, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have found a new species of lizard in a piece of amber excavated from a mine in Myanmar. Retinosaurus hkamtiensis, which was approximately...

The study sheds new light on the link between sleep deprivation and obesity. Image credit: Sweet Briar College.

Improving and Maintaining Adequate Sleep Duration Could Reduce Weight, New Research Suggests

Feb 9, 2022 by News Staff

In a single-center, randomized clinical trial with 80 adults, a team of researchers from the University of Chicago and the University of Wisconsin-Madison...

This images from the MUSE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope shows the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 7582. Image credit: ESO / Juneau et al.

Galaxy Substructure Plays Important Role in How Active Black Holes Affect Their Galaxies: Study

Feb 9, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using images from the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have studied the effect of...

An artist’s impression of Abditosaurus kuehnei. Image credit: Oscar Sanisidro, Museu de la Conca Dellà.

New Species of Titanosaur Unearthed in Spain

Feb 9, 2022 by Enrico de Lazaro

Abditosaurus kuehnei, a species of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur from the Cretaceous of Spain, is an immigrant lineage, distinct from some of the island...