In this illustration super-Earth Kepler-138 d is in the foreground. To the left, the planet Kepler-138 c, and in the background the planet Kepler 138 b, seen in silhouette transiting its central star. Kepler 138 is a red dwarf star located 218 light-years away. The low density of Kepler-138 c and Kepler-138 d — which are nearly identical in size — means that they must be composed largely of water. They are both twice Earth's mass but have roughly half of Earth's density, and therefore cannot be solid rock. This is based on measurements of their mass versus physical diameter. They are considered a new class of "water planet," unlike any major planet found in our solar system. Kepler-138 b is one of the smallest exoplanets known, having the mass of the planet Mars and the density of rock.
Credit: ILLUSTRATION: NASA, ESA, Leah Hustak (STScI)
For more information: hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2022/news-2022-048
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This is an artist's impression of two neutron stars colliding. The smashup between two dense stellar remnants unleashes the energy of 1,000 standard stellar nova explosions. In the aftermath of the collision a blowtorch jet of radiation is ejected at nearly the speed of light. The jet is directed along a narrow beam confined by powerful magnetic fields. The roaring jet plowed into and swept up material in the surrounding interstellar medium.
Credit: ARTWORK: Elizabeth Wheatley (STScI)
For more information: hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2022/news-2022-029
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This is an illustration of a close-up look at a black hole drifting through our Milky Way galaxy. The black hole is the crushed remnant of a massive star that exploded as a supernova. The surviving core is several times the mass of our Sun. The black hole traps light due to its intense gravitational field. The black hole distorts the space around it, which warps images of background stars lined up almost directly behind it. This gravitational "lensing" effect offers the only telltale evidence for the existence of lone black holes wandering our galaxy, which may be a population of 100 million. The Hubble Space Telescope goes hunting for these black holes by looking for distortion in starlight as the black holes drift in front of background stars.
Credit: FECYT, IAC
For more information: hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2022/news-2022-001
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This illustration shows supernova 2013ge, with its companion star at lower right. The companion star is impacted by the blast wave from the supernova, but not destroyed. Over time astronomers observed the ultraviolet (UV) light of the supernova fading, revealing a nearby second source of UV light that maintained brightness. The theory is that the two massive stars evolved together as a binary pair, and that the current survivor siphoned off its partner's outer hydrogen gas shell before it exploded. Eventually, the companion star will also go supernova.
Credit: ARTWORK: NASA, ESA, Leah Hustak (STScI)
For more information: hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2022/news-2022-011
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This is an artist's illustration of a supermassive black hole that is inside the dust-shrouded core of a vigorously star-forming "starburst" galaxy. It will eventually become an extremely bright quasar once the dust is gone. The research team believes that the object, discovered in a Hubble deep-sky survey, could be the evolutionary "missing link" between quasars and starburst galaxies. The dusty black hole dates back to only 750 million years after the big bang.
Credit: ARTWORK: NASA, ESA, N. Bartmann
For more information: hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2022/news-2022-019
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