This artist's impression shows a star crossing the event horizon of a supermassive black hole located in the center of a galaxy. The black hole is so large and massive that tidal effects on the star are negligible, and the star is swallowed whole. The effects of gravitational lensing distorting the light of the star are not shown here. (Mark A. Garlick/CfA)
This artist's impression shows a star crossing the event horizon of a supermassive black hole located in the center of a galaxy. The black hole is so large and massive that tidal effects on the star are negligible, and the star is swallowed whole. The effects of gravitational lensing distorting the light of the star are not shown here. (Mark A. Garlick/CfA)
A Hubble Space Telescope view of the galaxy cluster Abell 2744 is annotated in cyan and magenta to show how it acts as a ‘gravitational lens,’ magnifying more distant background galaxies. Cyan highlights the distribution of mass in the cluster, mostly in the form of dark matter. Magenta highlights the degree to which the background galaxies are magnified, which is related to the mass distribution.
Credit: STScI/NASA/CATS Team/R. Livermore (UT Austin)
A Hubble Space Telescope view of the galaxy cluster MACS 0416 is annotated in cyan and magenta to show how it acts as a ‘gravitational lens,’ magnifying more distant background galaxies. Cyan highlights the distribution of mass in the cluster, mostly in the form of dark matter. Magenta highlights the degree to which the background galaxies are magnified, which is related to the mass distribution.
Credit: STScI/NASA/CATS Team/R. Livermore (UT Austin)
This view of Orion, the hunter, was captured from McDonald Observatory on November 20, 2016 by a DSLR camera piggybacked on a three-inch telescope for a 12-minute exposure. Supergiant star Betelgeuse forms the hunter's bright orange shoulder at top left. (Credit: Tom Montemayor)
This 2012 infrared image of Betelgeuse by the orbiting Herschel telescope shows two shells of interacting matter on one side of the star. (Credit: L. Decin/University of Leuven/ESA)
This plot shows how the motion of Proxima Centauri toward and away from Earth is changing with time over the first half of 2016. Sometimes Proxima Centauri is approaching Earth at about 3 miles per hour (5 kph) — normal human walking pace — and at times receding at the same speed. This regular pattern of changing radial velocities repeats with a period of 11.2 days.
Proximab_motion.tifThis infographic compares the orbit of the planet around Proxima Centauri (Proxima b) with the same region of our solar system. Proxima Centauri is smaller and cooler than the Sun and the planet orbits much closer to its star than Mercury. As a result, it lies well within the habitable zone, where liquid water can exist on the planet’s surface. Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser/G. Coleman
Proximab_InfoGr.tifThis artist’s impression shows the planet Proxima b orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our solar system. The double star Alpha Centauri AB also appears in the image between the planet and Proxima itself. Proxima b is a little more massive than Earth and orbits in the habitable zone around Proxima Centauri, where the temperature is suitable for liquid water to exist on its surface. Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser
Proximab_ArtistImp2.tifThis artist’s impression shows a view of the surface of the planet Proxima b orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, the closest star to our solar system. The double star Alpha Centauri AB also appears in the image to the upper-right of Proxima itself. Proxima b is a little more massive than Earth and orbits in the habitable zone around Proxima Centauri, where the temperature is suitable for liquid water to exist on its surface. Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser
Proximab_ArtistImp.tif