Classifying galaxies with artificial intelligence

Astronomers have applied artificial intelligence (AI) to ultra-wide field-of-view images of the distant Universe captured by the Subaru Telescope, and have achieved a very high accuracy for finding and classifying spiral galaxies in those images. This technique, in combination with citizen science, is expected to yield further discoveries in the future. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-08-galaxies-artificial-intelligence.html…

Images show Martian night sky pulsing with ultraviolet light

Vast areas of Mars’ nightside atmosphere glow and pulsate with ultraviolet light, according to images from NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/mars-night-sky-ultraviolet-light-images…

Image: Barred spiral galaxy NGC 4907

The barred spiral galaxy known as NGC 4907 shows its starry face from 270 million light-years away to anyone who can see it from the Northern Hemisphere. This is a new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope of the face-on galaxy, displaying its beautiful spiral arms, wound loosely around its central bright bar of stars. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-08-image-barred-spiral-galaxy-ngc.html…

A surprising spiral around a planet factory

A new image of the planet-forming disk around the young star RU Lup reveals a beautiful and unexpected massive spiral of gas, reminiscent of a spiral galaxy. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/ru-lup-spiral-shaped-protoplanetary-disk…

NASA Ditching ‘Insensitive’ Nicknames for Cosmic Objects

NASA is “reconsidering how we talk about space,” reports CNET:
NASA gave two examples of cosmic objects it’ll no longer use nicknames for. Planetary nebula NGC 2392 has been called the “Eskimo Nebula.” “‘Eskimo’ is widely viewed as a colonial term with a racist history, imposed on the indigenous people of Arctic regions,” NASA explained. NASA already added a note to a…

Differences between discs of active and non-active galaxies detected for the first time

A study led by researchers at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) comparing the discs of several pairs of spiral galaxies, active and non-active, concludes that in the active discs, the rotational motion of the stars is of greater importance. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-08-differences-discs-non-active-galaxies.html…

Image: Hubble snaps ghostly galaxy

A notable feature of most spiral galaxies is the multitude of arching spiral arms that seemingly spin out from the galaxy’s center. In this image, taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, the stunning silvery-blue spiral arms of the galaxy NGC 4848 are observed in immense detail. Not only do we see the inner section of the spiral arms containing hundreds of thousands of…

M6 and M7 in the Scorpion’s Tail

Messier 6 and Messier 7 are star clusters near Scorpius’ stinger. But you’ll need a dark sky to see these faint but stunning stellar aggregations. Source: https://earthsky.org/clusters-nebulae-galaxies/m6-and-m7-deep-sky-gems-by-scorpius-tail…

New cosmic magnetic field structures discovered in galaxy NGC 4217

Spiral galaxies such as our Milky Way can have sprawling magnetic fields. There are various theories about their formation, but so far the process is not well understood. An international research team has now analyzed the magnetic field of the Milky Way-like galaxy NGC 4217 in detail on the basis of radio astronomical observations and has discovered as yet unknown magnetic…