Space & Future
Your dog’s dinner could be warming the planet more than your own
Many dog owners carefully think about what they eat for the sake of the planet—but new research suggests they may want to pay just...
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...
Deep Space
Astronomers find final missing piece of galaxy cluster collision puzzle
Astronomers have a model of how galaxy cluster collisions go through different stages, taking on various shapes.
A blunt body shape turns into a sharp...
Tidal steams of interstellar objects may flow through the Milky Way like braided rivers
We know that interstellar objects occasionally visit our solar system.
So far, we have only discovered two interstellar objects (ISOs), but that’s mainly because we...
Does the multiverse explain the nature of the universe
One possibility to explain the constants of nature is that there’s more than one universe.
That we live in a multiverse, with each different universe...
Earth may have been pummeled with asteroids much earlier than we thought
Welcome to the early solar system.
Just after the planets formed more than 4.5 billion years ago, our cosmic neighborhood was a chaotic place.
Waves of...
Astronomers find the longest black hole jets ever seen
Black holes often appear in science fiction movies, largely because elements of their existence are still a mystery.
They have fascinating impacts on the surrounding...