The detection of ionized oxygen indicates that many very brilliant stars, several dozen times more massive than the Sun, have formed in the galaxy and are emitting the intense ultraviolet light needed to ionize the oxygen atoms

Led by Lehigh University professor Joshua Pepper, the team includes nearly 40 members in 10 countries across 4 continents

From a distance, these carbon planets would be difficult to tell apart from more Earth-like worlds. Their masses and physical sizes would be similar

The research shows that more oxygen, carbon, and iron atoms exist in the sprawling, gaseous halos outside of galaxies than exist within the galaxies themselves, leaving the galaxies deprived of raw materials needed to build stars and planets.

There are a few possible explanations for the universe's excessive speed. One possibility is that dark energy, already known to be accelerating the universe, may be shoving galaxies away from each other with even greater—or growing—strength

This unusual phenomenon, predicted by the theory of General Relativity, was discovered by chance by a doctoral student at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias while analysing images of the Sculptor dwarf galaxy

"You think you have an idea that can explain things and the next day you might get information that says that whole idea is wrong."

The Hubble image reveals details as small as 20 to 30 miles across

Announcement more than doubles the number of confirmed planets from Kepler

The moon—provisionally designated S/2015 (136472) 1 and nicknamed MK 2—is more than 1,300 times fainter than Makemake