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Artist’s conception of a white dwarf star accreting helium from disk.  When the helium builds up on the surface, it causes an explosion, which triggers a second detonation in the core of the star, exploding it.

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Sandy Seale | 10 Jan 2024

Artist impression of a doughnut-shaped cloud that was formed after two ice giant planets collided. Image credit: Mark-Garlick

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Edward Gomez | 11 Oct 2023
Astronomers investigating a star that had unexpectedly faded discover ‘synestia’ – a cloud of molten, vapourised rock shaped like a doughnut- that had dimmed the star’s brightness

Comet 13P/Olbers recovery image(s) from August 24. This is a stack of the two exposures with combined exposure time of 20 minutes. Image Credit: Alan Hale

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Haleakalā Observatory on the island of Maui

announcement
Sandy Seale | 14 Aug 2023

The NASA DART spacecraft impacted the asteroid Dimorphos on September 26 at 4:14pm PDT. The images from the LCO 1-m telescope in South Africa show the expanding cloud of ejecta, twelve and fifteen minutes after the moment of impact.

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Galaxy NGC 1309. Image Credit:  NASA, ESA, The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), and A. Riess (JHU/STScI).

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Sandy Seale | 14 Jun 2022

Moon Over Us astronomy club students from India, showing their certificates

announcement
Edward Gomez | 10 May 2022
We are piloting a new program for school-based astronomy clubs, called Global Sky Clubs to support research projects in schools using our robotic telescopes.

2019 LCO summer interns

announcement
Sarah Rettinger | 14 Mar 2022

This simulation of a supermassive black hole shows how it distorts the starry background and captures light, producing a black hole silhouettes. Image Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center; background, ESA/Gaia/DPAC.

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Sandy Seale | 18 Feb 2022

Launch of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART Mission) as seen from Vandenberg Space Force Base on November 23, 2021.  Image Credit: Tim Lister, LCO.

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