Earth-like atmosphere may not survive Proxima b's orbit

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An Earth-like planet outside the solar system may not be able to keep a grip on its atmosphere, leaving the surface exposed to harmful stellar radiation and reducing its potential for habitability.
via Science Daily
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Astronomers discover 'heavy metal' supernova rocking out

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An extraordinarily bright supernova occurred in a surprising location, astronomers have found. This 'heavy metal' supernova discovery challenges current ideas of how and where such super-charged supernovas occur. In the past decade, astronomers have discovered about 50 supernovas, out of the thousands known, that are particularly powerful. Following the recent discovery of one of these, the researchers have uncovered vital clues about where some of these extraordinary objects come from.
via Science Daily
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Out There: The Eclipse That Revealed the Universe

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In 1919, British astronomers photographed a solar eclipse and proved that light bends around our sun — affirming Einstein’s theory of general relativity.
via New York Times

Pluto Flyover from New Horizons

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What if you could fly over Pluto -- what might you see? The New Horizons spacecraft did just this in 2015 July as it shot past the distant world at a speed of about 80,000 kilometers per hour. Recently, many images from this spectacular passage have been color enhanced and digitally combined into the featured two-minute time-lapse video. As your journey begins, light dawns on mountains thought to be composed of water ice but colored by frozen nitrogen. Soon, to your right, you see a flat sea of mostly solid nitrogen that has segmented into strange polygons that are thought to have bubbled up from a comparatively warm interior. Craters and ice mountains are common sights below. The video dims and ends over terrain dubbed bladed because it shows 500-meter high ridges separated by kilometer-sized gaps. Although the robotic New Horizons spacecraft has too much momentum ever to return to Pluto, it has now been targeted at Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU 69, which it should shoot past on New Year's Day 2019.

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Extreme stellar factory

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Space Science Image of the Week: Massive stars emerge from glowing gas and dust in one of the Milky Way’s most active stellar nurseries
via ESA Space Science
http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2017/07/Intense_star_formation_in_the_Westerhout_43_region