Space & Future
Astronomers witness the awesome power of a black hole’s “dancing jets”
Astronomers have long been fascinated by the powerful jets emanating from black holes.
These jets result from gas and dust being pulled into the black...
Scientists explore the surface of a super-Earth 48 light-years away
Astronomers have taken an exciting step forward in understanding planets beyond our solar system by studying not just their atmospheres, but their actual surfaces.
Using...
How can this tiny world have an atmosphere? Scientists are stunned
Far beyond Neptune, in one of the coldest and darkest regions of our solar system, astronomers have discovered something unexpected: a small icy object...
What happens when a star gets too close to a black hole
Supermassive black holes are among the most enigmatic objects in the universe.
They typically weigh millions or even billions of times the mass of the...
Astronomers finally crack the mass mystery of Orion’s hidden young stars
A star’s mass shapes everything about its life, from how bright it shines to how it eventually dies.
Small stars like our Sun burn slowly...
Astronomers discover missing planets around the galaxy’s most common stars
Astronomers have discovered something surprising about planets beyond our solar system.
Even though planets are incredibly common—scientists now estimate there is at least one planet...
Why one side of the Milky Way is hotter than the other
Scientists have discovered a surprising reason why one side of our galaxy is warmer than the other, and the explanation is something you might...
How the Milky Way’s smallest neighbors reveal the early universe
Astronomers have long been fascinated by tiny galaxies that orbit the Milky Way.
These faint and fragile systems, known as ultra-faint dwarf galaxies, are often...
Binary stars form lots of exoplanets, but many of them are ejected as rogue...
Astronomers don't have to work hard to find binary stars in the Milky Way.
They're common, even abundant. For a long time, they thought that...
Scientists finally discover the true edge of the Milky Way
For many years, astronomers have wondered where the Milky Way truly “ends.” Unlike a solid object, our galaxy does not have a clear boundary.
Its...
Potential signs of life on distant planets sound exciting, but confirmation can take years
Astronomers can use telescopes to find specific molecules in the atmospheres of neighboring planets, in nebulae—clouds of interstellar dust and gas—hundreds or thousands of...
Astronomers find the edge of the Milky Way’s star-forming disc
Where exactly is the edge of the Milky Way?
That question is harder to answer than one might expect. Since we’re inside of the galaxy...
Deep Space
Mysterious star may solve puzzle of universe’s strongest magnets
Magnetars are some of the universe's most powerful magnets.
These super-tight, dead stars have extremely strong magnetic fields and can be found throughout our galaxy.
Yet,...
Saturn’s rings will disappear in 2025. don’t worry, they’ll return soon enough
The rings of Saturn are some of the most well-known and captivating spectacles in the night sky, which are so large they can easily...
Dark matter interacts with gravity in a non-local way, shows study
Ever wondered about the mysteries of the universe and how everything, near or far, is connected?
The answer lies in gravity, a force that pulls...
Webb Telescope discovers dwarf galaxies’ role in reionizing the universe
Using the James Webb Space Telescope's advanced capabilities, scientists have made groundbreaking observations of the universe's earliest galaxies, shedding light on a critical period...
Organic molecules come from the universe’s cold places, shows study
Life, as we all know, is based on chemistry.
Prebiotic chemical building blocks existed on our planet for a long time before life arose.
Astrobiology and...