Space & Future
How a black hole and a shredded star could light up a galaxy
In 2014, a strange cloudy object called G2 made a close approach to Sagittarius A*, (Sag A*) the supermassive black hole at the heart...
Two monsters, one galaxy, and a collision 100 years away!
Space is full of objects that push the boundaries of imagination, but few do it quite as effectively as a black hole.
At its simplest,...
Scientists reveal where water is hiding on the moon after billions of years
Scientists have long suspected that water exists on the moon, but exactly how it got there—and where it is most concentrated—has remained a mystery.
Now,...
Moon dust tells a hidden story: How space delivered and transformed life’s building blocks
A new study based on samples from China’s Chang'e-5 and Chang'e-6 missions is helping scientists understand how the basic ingredients of life arrived and...
It’s not supposed to be like this: A giant planet orbits a small star
The nebular hypothesis states that stars and the planets that orbit them form from the same reservoir of material, called a solar nebula.
It's the...
Astronomers finally spot vast hydrogen clouds that fueled early galaxies
For decades, scientists believed the early universe was filled with enormous amounts of hydrogen gas—the basic ingredient needed to form stars.
But proving this idea...
Astronomers discover two supermassive black holes on the verge of collision
Supermassive black holes sit at the centers of most large galaxies, and they are some of the most powerful objects in the universe.
Scientists believe...
Why Jupiter has more giant moons than Saturn
Jupiter and Saturn are the two largest planets in our solar system, and both are surrounded by dozens—even hundreds—of moons.
But their moon systems look...
A new kind of star remnant? Scientists find two mysterious cosmic twins
Astronomers have discovered two unusual stellar objects that may belong to a completely new class of star remnants.
These objects, nicknamed “Gandalf” and “Moon-Sized,” share...
Scientists discover one of the most pristine stars ever found in the universe
Astronomers have discovered an extremely rare star that offers a glimpse into the earliest days of the universe.
The star, named SDSS J0715-7334, is considered...
Scientists discover bizarre new state of matter deep inside Uranus and Neptune
Deep inside the distant planets Uranus and Neptune, matter may exist in a bizarre form unlike anything we experience on Earth.
A new study suggests...
Could a 7-dimensional space solve the black hole mystery?
Black holes have long puzzled scientists, especially because of a problem known as the black hole information paradox.
Now, a new study suggests that the...
Deep Space
NASA’s Hubble captures giant star on the edge of destruction
In celebration of the 31st anniversary of the launching of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers aimed the renowned observatory at a brilliant "celebrity star,"...
A gamma-ray burst disturbed the earth’s ionosphere
You’d think that something happening billions of light-years away wouldn’t affect Earth, right?
Well, in 2002, a burst of gamma rays lasting 800 seconds actually...
A star is devouring its twin in a cosmic feeding frenzy
Astronomers have discovered a star system unlike anything seen before: a greedy white dwarf star is feasting on its much larger stellar companion at...
Dark matter may be older than the big bang, says new study
Dark matter may have existed before the Big Bang, according to a new study.
Dark matter, which researchers believe make up about 80% of the...
Old stars spotted in young star neighborhoods may have warmed early Earth
You might think that all stars are born, live, and die in the same place, but it turns out that's not always the case.
Some...