Space & Future
How giant black holes shut down star formation
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have discovered powerful winds blasting out of some of the universe’s earliest galaxies, offering new clues about...
Why we need to treat Earth like a spaceship
Four humans recently looped around the moon.
Their vessel, an Artemis capsule, was a thin metal shell whose life-support system kept them alive: it provided...
Astronomers discover how a mini-Neptune survived beside a hot Jupiter
Astronomers using NASA’s powerful James Webb Space Telescope have uncovered new clues about one of the strangest planetary systems ever discovered.
About 190 light years...
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...
Deep Space
The universe’s biggest explosions made elements we are composed of, but there’s another mystery...
After its "birth" in the Big Bang, the universe consisted mainly of hydrogen and a few helium atoms.
These are the lightest elements in the...
Giant planet puzzles scientists by orbiting a tiny star
In a surprising twist to what scientists thought they knew about space, a team from Penn State University has found a planet that's way...
Scientists find new way to harness energy from black holes
Physicists have found a new way to extract energy from black holes by breaking and rejoining magnetic field lines near the event horizon.
A remarkable...
How to make building blocks for a lunar habitat
By 2028, NASA intends to land the "first woman and first person of color" on the Moon as part of the Artemis III mission.
This...
Scientists discover an unusual Jupiter-like planet orbiting a cool red dwarf star
This Jupiter-like Planet is the lowest-density gas giant ever detected around a red dwarf
Astronomers using the WIYN 3.5-meter Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory...