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  • Astronomers Spot New Aurora in the Gases Around Uranus

    Astronomers Spot New Aurora in the Gases Around Uranus

    Feast your eyes on Uranus’ glowing edges. We’re serious—a team of astronomers has spotted a new aurora on the seventh planet from the Sun, glowing at infrared wavelengths. Ultraviolet aurorae were first spotted on the planet in 1986, but an infrared aurora had never been seen before. The aurora’s discovery was made with the Keck…


  • Two-Faced: Wacky White Dwarf Keeps Its Surface Gases Separate

    Two-Faced: Wacky White Dwarf Keeps Its Surface Gases Separate

    Astronomers have discovered an ancient stellar remnant that keeps its light elements separate, in a strange first. The object is a white dwarf, an ancient core of a dead star. White dwarfs are small (hence their name, obviously), clocking in at about the size of Earth, but with a mass similar to that of the…