ESA Science & Technology - News Archive
News archive
News archive
ESA has selected the Athena advanced telescope for high-energy astrophysics as its second 'Large-class' science mission.
Published: 27 June 2014
The Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) and the Russian Academy of Sciences have nominated Nanda Rea, an assistant professor at the Institute of Space Sciences (CSIC-IEEC) in Barcelona and the Anton Pannekoek Institute (API) at the University of Amsterdam, for a prestigious Zeldovich Medal.
Published: 26 June 2014
Astronomers using ESA and NASA high-energy observatories have discovered a tantalising clue that hints at an elusive ingredient of our Universe: dark matter.
Published: 24 June 2014
Astronomers have discovered strange and unexpected behaviour around the supermassive black hole at the heart of the galaxy NGC 5548. The international team of researchers detected a clumpy gas stream flowing quickly outwards and blocking 90 percent of the X-rays emitted by the black hole.
Published: 19 June 2014
They may only be little, but they pack a star-forming punch: new observations from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope show that starbursts in dwarf galaxies played a bigger role than expected in the early history of the Universe.
Published: 19 June 2014
An image snapped earlier this month by ESA's Rosetta spacecraft shows its target comet has quietened, demonstrating the unpredictable nature of these enigmatic objects.
Published: 19 June 2014
Using ESA's Herschel space observatory, astronomers have discovered that a molecule vital for creating water exists in the burning embers of dying Sun-like stars.
Published: 17 June 2014
A composite view of the Bullet Group reveals its constituents and their peculiar arrangement. The hot gas, imaged with ESA's XMM-Newton, is separated from the rest of the group's mass, which consists of galaxies as well as dark matter.
Published: 6 June 2014
Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have captured the most comprehensive picture ever assembled of the evolving Universe – and one of the most colourful. The study is called the Ultraviolet Coverage of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (UVUDF) project.
Published: 3 June 2014
XMM-Newton has revealed a unique star. It is a celestial chimera with the body of a normal massive star yet the magnetic field of a dead, stellar dwarf. This makes it a singular object among the billions of known stars.
Published: 3 June 2014
After eight years in orbit, ESA's Venus Express has completed routine science observations and is preparing for a daring plunge into the planet's hostile atmosphere.
Published: 16 May 2014
Jupiter's trademark Great Red Spot – a swirling storm feature larger than Earth – is shrinking. This downsizing has been known about since the 1930s, but now these striking new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope images capture the spot at a smaller size than ever before.
Published: 15 May 2014
The target of ESA's Rosetta mission has started to reveal its true personality as a comet, its dusty veil clearly developing over the last six weeks.
Published: 15 May 2014
For many years, scientists have been striving to understand the constantly changing structure and behaviour of the huge magnetic bubble that surrounds our planet. One approach – pioneered by Russian scientist Nikolai Tsyganenko - has been to develop models based on data sent back by spacecraft, such as ESA's Cluster quartet.
Published: 7 May 2014
Our Galaxy's magnetic field is revealed in a new image from ESA's Planck satellite. This image was compiled from the first all-sky observations of 'polarised' light emitted by interstellar dust in the Milky Way.
Published: 6 May 2014
Two teams of astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have discovered three distant exploding stars that have been magnified by the immense gravity of foreground galaxy clusters, which act like "cosmic lenses".
Published: 1 May 2014
New Herschel results have given us a remarkable insight into the internal dynamics of two young galaxies. Surprisingly, they have shown that just a few billion years after the Big Bang, some galaxies were rotating in a mature way, seemingly having completed the accumulation of their gas reservoirs.
Published: 29 April 2014
The Royal Observatory of Belgium invites proposals from potential Guest Investigators for the analysis of data from PROBA2's two solar observation instruments, SWAP and LYRA. Proposals in response to this Fifth Call for Guest Investigators must be received by 1 June 2014.
Published: 24 April 2014
A pair of supermassive black holes in orbit around one another have been spotted by XMM-Newton. This is the first time such a pair have been seen in an ordinary galaxy. They were discovered because they ripped apart a star when the space observatory happened to be looking in their direction.
Published: 22 April 2014
An image of a galaxy cluster taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope gives a remarkable cross-section of the Universe, showing objects at different distances and stages in cosmic history.
Published: 17 April 2014
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