Science Results

Science Results

Scientists analysing data from the Cassini mission have found evidence of light, soluble and reactive organic molecules in the ice grains ejected by Saturn's icy moon Enceladus, providing another important piece of evidence to investigate its potential habitability.

Published: 2 October 2019

Scientists analysing the treasure trove of images taken by ESA's Rosetta mission have turned up more evidence for curious bouncing boulders and dramatic cliff collapses.

Published: 18 September 2019

For the first time, astronomers have detected synchronised pulses of optical and X-ray radiation from a mysterious pulsar some 4500 light years away. The observations indicate that a new physical mechanism might be needed to explain the behaviour of fast-spinning sources like this one, known as transitional millisecond pulsars.

Published: 13 September 2019

With data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, water vapour has been detected in the atmosphere of a super-Earth within the habitable zone by University College London (UCL) researchers in a world first.

Published: 11 September 2019

ESA's X-ray space telescope XMM-Newton has detected never-before-seen periodic flares of X-ray radiation coming from a distant galaxy that could help explain some enigmatic behaviours of active black holes.

Published: 11 September 2019

Just as people of the same age can vary greatly in appearance and shape, so do collections of stars or stellar aggregates. New observations from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope suggest that chronological age alone does not tell the complete story when it comes to the evolution of star clusters.

Published: 9 September 2019

Rather than leaving home young, as expected, stellar 'siblings' prefer to stick together in long-lasting, string-like groups, finds a new study of data from ESA's Gaia spacecraft.

Published: 28 August 2019

On 31 March 2017, Jupiter's moon Europa passed in front of a background star – a rare event that was captured for the first time by ground-based telescopes thanks to data provided by ESA's Gaia spacecraft.

Published: 25 July 2019
Data from ESA's XMM-Newton X-ray observatory has revealed how supermassive black holes shape their host galaxies with powerful winds that sweep away interstellar matter.
Published: 24 July 2019
Using observations from the international Cassini spacecraft, scientists have explored the ring-like mounds that wrap around some of the pools found at the poles of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. The study reveals more about how these features formed.
Published: 17 July 2019
The first direct measurement of the bar-shaped collection of stars at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy has been made by combining data from ESA’s Gaia mission with complementary observations from ground- and space-based telescopes.
Published: 16 July 2019
Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have observed an unexpected thin disc of material encircling a supermassive black hole at the heart of the spiral galaxy NGC 3147, located 130 million light-years away.
Published: 11 July 2019
Scientists have uncovered an extremely powerful shock wave in a distant part of the Universe where two massive galaxy clusters appear to come into first contact ahead of merging. The study is based on data from several astronomical facilities, including ESA's XMM-Newton X-ray space observatory.
Published: 24 June 2019
ESA's Planck satellite has found no new evidence for the puzzling cosmic anomalies that appeared in its temperature map of the Universe. The latest study does not rule out the potential relevance of the anomalies but they do mean astronomers must work even harder to understand the origin of these puzzling features.
Published: 6 June 2019
Hubble's measurements of today's expansion rate do not match the rate that was expected based on how the Universe appeared shortly after the Big Bang over 13 billion years ago. Using new data from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have significantly lowered the possibility that this discrepancy is a fluke.
Published: 25 April 2019
Scientists have used the tiny distortions imprinted on the cosmic microwave background by the gravity of matter throughout the Universe, recorded by ESA's Planck satellite, to uncover the connection between the luminosity of quasars – the bright cores of active galaxies – and the mass of the much larger 'halos' of dark matter in which they sit.
Published: 17 April 2019
A reanalysis of data collected by ESA's Mars Express during the first 20 months of NASA's Curiosity mission found one case of correlated methane detection, the first time an in-situ measurement has been independently confirmed from orbit.
Published: 1 April 2019
Thanks to an impressive collaboration bringing together data from ground-based telescopes, all-sky surveys and space-based facilities – including the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope – a rare self-destructing asteroid called 6478 Gault has been observed.
Published: 28 March 2019
By surveying the centre of our Galaxy, ESA's XMM-Newton has discovered two colossal 'chimneys' funneling material from the vicinity of the Milky Way's supermassive black hole into two huge cosmic bubbles.
Published: 20 March 2019
In a striking example of multi-mission astronomy, measurements from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the ESA Gaia mission have been combined to improve the estimate of the mass of our home galaxy the Milky Way: 1.5 trillion solar masses.
Published: 7 March 2019
29-Mar-2024 10:30 UT

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