Artist’s impression of the distant galaxy SXDF-NB1006-2

Astronomers observe most distant oxygen ever

16 June 2016

An international team of astronomers have detected glowing oxygen in a distant galaxy seen just 700 million years after the Big Bang. This is the most distant galaxy in which oxygen has ever been unambiguously detected, and it is most likely being ionised by powerful radiation from young giant stars. This galaxy could be an example of one type of source responsible for cosmic reionisation in the early history of the Universe.

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Illustration of the hot lava world 55 Cancri e

Map of rocky exoplanet reveals a lava world

30 March 2016

̽»¨Ö±²¥most detailed map of a small, rocky ‘super Earth’ to date reveals a planet almost completely covered by lava, with a molten ‘hot’ side and solid ‘cool’ side.

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Artist’s impression of Gaia14aae

Gaia satellite and amateur astronomers spot one in a billion star

17 July 2015

̽»¨Ö±²¥Gaia satellite has discovered a unique binary system where one star is ‘eating’ the other, but neither star has any hydrogen, the most common element in the Universe. ̽»¨Ö±²¥system could be an important tool for understanding how binary stars might explode at the end of their lives.

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