Space & Future
A giant star is changing before our eyes and astronomers are watching in real...
For decades, astronomers have been watching WOH G64, an enormous heavyweight star in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a galaxy visible with the naked eye...
Are there hidden dimensions to the universe
This is Part 1 of a series on large extra dimensions.
I always say that one of the things that separates real science from pseudoscience...
Astronomers discover a hidden factory of organic molecules in a dust-shrouded galaxy
rich mix of organic molecules deep inside a nearby galaxy, offering a new glimpse into how the basic ingredients of chemistry may form in...
A strange Martian dust storm offers new clues to how Mars lost its water
Mars today is a cold, dry desert, but its surface tells a very different story.
Ancient river channels, lake basins, and minerals formed in water...
This mysterious particle may be proof that black holes can explode
In 2023, physicists detected something that should not have existed: a single subatomic particle called a neutrino carrying an almost unimaginable amount of energy.
This...
Is there really a black hole at the Milky Way’s center—or something even stranger?
For decades, astronomers have believed that a supermassive black hole sits at the heart of our galaxy.
This object, known as Sagittarius A*, is thought...
Is there a link between primordial black holes, neutrinos, and dark matter
Humanity has worked itself into a position where we can detect a single high-energy particle from space and wonder where in Nature it came...
After 50 years, Jupiter’s true size is finally revealed
For more than half a century, scientists believed they had a solid grasp of Jupiter’s size and shape.
As the largest planet in the solar...
Webb Telescope spots rare five-galaxy merger just 800 million years after the big bang
Astronomers have spotted an unexpected and dramatic event in the early universe: a tightly packed collision involving at least five galaxies just 800 million...
Why planets with two suns almost never survive
Planets with two suns, like the famous desert world Tatooine from Star Wars, capture our imagination.
Yet in real life, these so-called circumbinary planets—planets that...
The universe’s first matter really was a soup—and scientists can now see it slosh
In the very first moments after the Big Bang, the universe looked nothing like it does today.
Instead of stars, atoms, or even protons, everything...
NASA rover finds 3.5-billion-year-old Martian shoreline in Jezero crater
Scientists exploring Mars have uncovered strong new evidence that the Red Planet once had wave-washed beaches and long-lasting water activity, making it an even...
Deep Space
Scientists discover a warped disc torn apart by stars in a triple Tatooine-like system
A new study has revealed the first direct evidence that groups of stars can tear apart their planet-forming disc, leaving it warped and with...
Can planets around white dwarfs support life?
For years, scientists believed that planets orbiting white dwarf stars couldn’t support life.
These stars, the remains of sun-like stars that have burned out, were...
What happens to planets with hydrogen atmospheres?
When telescopes became powerful enough to find planets orbiting distant stars, scientists were surprised to see that a lot of them didn’t have atmospheres...
The early universe should be awash in active galaxies, but JWST isn’t finding them
For decades the most distant objects we could see were quasars. We now know they are powerful active black holes.
Active galactic nuclei so distant...
This ‘oddball supernova’ appears strangely cool before exploding
A curiously yellow star has caused astrophysicists to reevaluate what’s possible within our universe.
Led by Northwestern University, the international team used NASA’s Hubble Space...