Space & Future
Dying Galaxies Reveal What Happens After Black Hole Jets Switch Off
Astronomers have discovered a group of faint "dying" radio galaxies that could change our understanding of what happens after supermassive black holes stop producing...
Mars Dust Could Threaten Astronauts’ Lungs, NASA Warns
Future astronauts exploring Mars will face a danger that may be much harder to avoid than extreme cold or radiation: dust.
NASA has released a...
Hubble Discovers a Lost Galaxy Swallowed by the Milky Way 11.8 Billion Years Ago
The Milky Way has not always been the enormous spiral galaxy we see today. Like many large galaxies, it grew partly by swallowing smaller...
Scientists Solve Key Mysteries Behind Supernovae and X-Ray Bursts
Scientists have made two important nuclear measurements that could help explain what happens inside some of the most powerful explosions in the universe.
In two...
Galactic archaeologists find stars in the Milky Way came from another galaxy 12 billion...
Look up on a dark night and the Milky Way appears as a calm band of stars across the sky. But our galaxy has...
Astronomers Discover a Mysterious New Object Called a ‘Black Hole Star’
Astronomers may have discovered an entirely new kind of object in the early universe: something that looks like an enormous star but is powered...
Giant Planets May Be Born in the Shadow of Supermassive Black Holes
Black holes are often imagined as cosmic vacuum cleaners that simply swallow everything nearby.
But new research suggests the environment around supermassive black holes may...
Why Astronauts Get Constipated in Space: Their Blood Offers a Clue
Constipation is a surprisingly common problem for astronauts living in space.
Scientists have long known that digestion can change when people leave Earth, but exactly...
A Dry Martian Meteorite Reveals Where Water Once Hid on Mars
Mars may look like a dry, dusty world today, but billions of years ago, water interacted with its rocky surface.
Now, scientists have found new...
Chemical Fingerprints Reveal the Secret Pasts of Massive Stars
A massive star may look like it has spent its entire life alone, but its chemical makeup can tell a very different story.
Scientists have...
Astronomers Discover a Stellar Stream Beyond the Milky Way for the First Time
Astronomers have discovered a faint stream of stars in another galaxy for the first time, opening a new way to investigate one of the...
Astronomers Find Three Giant Black Holes in One Ancient Galaxy for the First Time
Astronomers have discovered three actively feeding supermassive black holes inside a single distant galaxy, something never before seen so far back in the history...
Deep Space
Mysterious ‘Planet Nine’ may hide in dark corner of space
The search for Planet Nine — a hypothesized ninth planet in our solar system — may come down to pinpointing the faintest orbital trails...
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...
This huge comet from early solar system is heading our way
An enormous comet — approximately 80 miles across, more than twice the width of Rhode Island — is heading our way at 22,000 miles...
Hidden water and rare magmas: How Mars’ thick crust could have supported life
New research suggests that ancient Mars may have been more geologically and hydrologically active than we once thought.
Scientists from Rice University have discovered that...
Scientists detect 1652 radio bursts from 3 billion light-years away
What seemed a cosmic trickle almost a decade ago now appears as a rapid-fire barrage from across the universe.
An international team of astronomers including...