How stars forge the universe’s heaviest elements
Have you ever wondered where all the different elements in the universe come from?
A team of researchers from the University of Michigan, led by...
Amateur astronomers found planets crashing into each other
Astronomy is one of the sciences where amateurs make regular contributions.
Over the years, members of the public have made exciting discoveries and meaningful contributions...
Did the last great galactic merger create the Milky Way’s Bar
The Milky Way is a spiral galaxy.
More specifically, it is a barred spiral galaxy, meaning that within its central region, there is a bar...
Scientists found evidence of a nearby Kilonova 3.5 million years ago
Most of the times astronomers reported dramatic, cataclysmic events like neutron star mergers or the creation of a black hole; they are taking place...
How ancient stars created super-heavy elements
In a remarkable discovery, scientists have found that ancient stars were not just twinkling lights in the night sky but incredible factories that produced...
If our part of the universe is less dense, would that explain the Hubble...
In the 1920s, Edwin Hubble and Georges Lemaitre made a startling discovery that forever changed our perception of the Universe.
Upon observing galaxies beyond the...
A star near the center of the Milky Way is a visitor from beyond
There’s an alien red giant star orbiting in the center of our galaxy.
It’s called S0-6 and has chemical fingerprints from its birthplace far outside...
Fly slowly through Enceladus’ plumes to detect life
Enceladus is blasting water into space from the jets at its southern pole.
This makes it the ideal place to send a dedicated mission, flying...
Communicating with a relativistic spacecraft gets pretty weird
Someday, in the not-too-distant future, humans may send robotic probes to explore nearby star systems.
These robot explorers will likely take the form of lightsails...
In 1872, a solar storm hit the earth generating auroras from the tropics to...
Imagine a solar storm generating auroral displays across the entire sky.
No, we haven’t quite seen them that strong in the current solar cycle.
But, back...