Astronomers spot a black hole jet colliding with a mystery object
Astronomers using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory have made a fascinating discovery in a galaxy called Centaurus A (Cen A), located about 12 million light-years...
An interstellar visitor helped shape the orbits of the planets
The orbits of the planets around the Sun have been the source for many a scientific debate.
Their current orbital properties are well understood but...
Has the universe been designed to support life? Now we have a way to...
The anthropic principle states that the fundamental parameters of the Universe such as the strength of the fundamental forces, have been finely tuned to...
Do we really know what becomes a Type Ia Supernova
Lots of things out in the Universe can cause a supernova, from the gravitational collapse of a massive star, to the collision of white...
Is the universe fine-tuned for life? Scientists propose a test for the Anthropic Principle”
Is the universe perfectly set up to support life as we know it?
This idea, called the Anthropic Principle, has sparked debate among scientists and...
Using Jupiter as a dark matter detector
The nature of dark matter has been a hotly debated topic for decades.
If it’s a heavy, slow moving particle then it’s just possible that...
The Moon’s oldest crater reveals new secrets about its past
The South Pole-Aitken basin is the moon’s largest and oldest visible crater, formed around 4 billion years ago.
It’s like a giant time capsule, holding...
How a rare Venus transit helps scientists study distant planets
In the future, astronomers will study the atmospheres of planets as small as Earth and Venus orbiting other stars.
While Venus and Earth are often...
Scientists use Hubble to get closest look yet at a quasar’s heart
Astronomers have used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to take the closest-ever look at the heart of a quasar—a dazzling galactic center powered by a...
Advanced civilizations could be indistinguishable from nature
Sometimes in science you have to step back and take another look at underlying assumptions. Sometimes its necessary when progress stalls.
One of the foundational...