Space & Future
How ‘red geyser’ galaxies stay silent for billions of years
Some of the universe’s largest galaxies have gone strangely quiet.
They stopped forming new stars billions of years ago and have remained dormant ever since—even...
Dark stars could be the missing link in the universe’s earliest mysteries
A new study suggests that a strange and long-theorized type of object called a dark star could help explain several major mysteries uncovered by...
Thin ice may have kept ancient Martian lakes alive for decades
For years, scientists have faced a puzzling contradiction about Mars.
On one hand, the planet is covered with ancient lake beds, shorelines, and sediment layers...
A new study finds a subtle dance between dark matter and neutrinos
Time again for a tale of things dark and mysterious. A tale of dark matter. It's a well-told tale, but this time it involves...
This system reveals how super-Earths are born
One of the best things about being able to see thousands of exoplanetary systems is that we’re able to track them in different stages...
Hidden plasma rings around red dwarfs may shape the fate of their planets
When astronomers think about whether distant planets could support life, they often focus on the planets themselves.
But a growing body of research shows that...
How ancient Mars may have kept its lakes liquid
For years, scientists have puzzled over a contradiction on Mars.
The planet’s surface is covered with features that look unmistakably like ancient lake beds—shorelines, layered...
Scientists track a powerful solar region for a record 94 days
In 2024, the Sun put on one of its most dramatic shows in decades.
A single highly active region on its surface unleashed the strongest...
Young galaxies grow up fast, study finds
Astronomers have captured the most detailed look yet at faraway galaxies at the peak of their youth, an active time when the adolescent galaxies...
Astronomers see a supernova from 10 billion years ago using nature’s own telescope
Astronomers have discovered something truly remarkable: the first-ever gravitationally lensed superluminous supernova that can be seen as multiple, clearly separated images.
The distant explosion, named...
Astronomers find an ultra-hot galaxy cluster from the universe’s infancy
Astronomers have discovered something that challenges long-standing ideas about how the universe evolved: a galaxy cluster filled with extremely hot gas that formed far...
Stars and planets are linked together, and dust is the key to understanding how
Stars and planets are inextricably linked. They form together and stars shape the fate of planets. Stars create the dusty protoplanetary disks that give...
Deep Space
Something is lurking in the heart of quasar 3C 279
One year ago, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Collaboration published the first image of a black hole in the nearby radio galaxy M 87.
Now...
Stellar flares could destroy exoplanet’s habitability, shows study
Planetary habitability, defined by a planet's ability to sustain liquid water on its surface, is one of the most important concepts in exoplanet science.
Exoplanets...
Universe has surprisingly fewer supermassive black holes than we thought
Did you know that at the center of every galaxy, including our own Milky Way, there's a supermassive black hole?
These aren't just any black...
New comets study reveals chemical composition of early solar system
A new study by University of Central Florida researchers has found strong evidence that the outgassing of molecules from comets could trace the chemical...
How did early Earth’s hydrogen and oxygen come from?
Molecular oxygen (O2) is essential for respiration on today's Earth, but the early atmosphere was almost devoid of oxygen until the Great Oxidation Event.
How...