Using ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) and VLT Interferometer (VLTI) in Chile, astronomers have directly observed two gas giants emerging from the planet-forming disk around a star known as WISPIT 2, offering one of the clearest views yet of how a planetary system may form. The arrangement, marked by gaps and rings in the surrounding…
Nicholas Brendon, best known for portraying the loyal, wisecracking Xander Harris in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” died Friday from natural causes after dealing with a congenital heart defect and other health issues in recent years. He was 54. His family shared news of his passing in a statement posted on the actor’s social media accounts….
Long-term observations of WOH G64 — once considered the most extreme red supergiant star in its galaxy — reveal that the star has undergone a dramatic transition, possibly shedding part of its outer layers as it entered a hotter and rarer stellar phase. An artist’s reconstruction of the red supergiant WOH G64. Image credit: ESO…
Using a vast catalog of Sun-like stars built by ESA’s Gaia mission, astronomers have found strong evidence that our home star traveled outward with thousands of stellar counterparts roughly 4 to 6 billion years ago, offering new clues to the formation of the Milky Way’s central bar. An artist’s impression of a migration of the…
