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With the help of ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have found six galaxies lying around a supermassive black hole when the Universe was less than a billion years old. This is the first time such a close grouping has been seen so soon after the Big Bang and the finding helps us better understand how supermassive black holes, one of which exists at the centre of our Milky Way, formed and grew to their enormous sizes so quickly. It supports the theory that black holes can grow rapidly within large, web-like structures which contain plenty of gas to fuel them.

Artist's conception of a magnetar -- a superdense neutron star with an extremely strong magnetic field. In this illustration, the magnetar is emitting a burst of radiation.

This latest image of Jupiter, taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope on 25 August 2020, was captured when the planet was 653 million kilometres from Earth. Hubble’s sharp view is giving researchers an updated weather report on the monster planet’s turbulent atmosphere, including a remarkable new storm brewing, and a cousin of the Great Red Spot changing colour — again. The new image also features Jupiter’s icy moon Europa.

An international team of astronomers announced the discovery of a rare molecule — phosphine — in the clouds of Venus. On Earth, this gas is only made industrially or by microbes that thrive in oxygen-free environments. Astronomers have speculated for decades that high clouds on Venus could offer a home for microbes — floating free of the scorching surface but needing to tolerate very high acidity. The detection of phosphine could point to such extra-terrestrial “aerial” life.

In this illustration, WD 1856 b, a potential Jupiter-size planet, orbits its much smaller host star, a dim white dwarf.

In this illustration, WD 1856 b, a potential Jupiter-size planet, orbits its much smaller host star, a dim white dwarf.

NASA’s flying observatory, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, has returned to science operations with a new series of flights designed to study the chemistry of galaxies.

STS-120 Commander Pamela Melroy talked to media and guests on the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center after landing Space Shuttle Discovery. Behind her from left are mission specialist Stephanie Wilson, pilot George Zamka and mission specialists Doug Wheelock and Scott Parazynski. Mission STS-120 continued the construction of the station with the installation of the Harmony Node 2 module and the relocation of the P6 truss.