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
Ocean circulation may hold the key to finding life on exoplanets
Planets exactly like Earth may not be best places to look for alien life, study finds.
Researchers across the globe have long tackled the question:...
Why the Moon’s “two faces” may have very different interiors
For centuries, humans could only wonder what the far side of the moon looked like.
Unlike the near side, which always faces Earth, the far...
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...
Scientists may find the first traces of the universe’s earliest stars
Astronomers may have discovered the ancient chemical remains of the first stars to light up the universe.
Using an analysis of a distant quasar observed...
When a black hole ate a super-sized star: Inside the violent “whippet” explosion
Astronomers have witnessed an extraordinary cosmic catastrophe: a black hole tearing apart a massive star and devouring it piece by piece.
The dramatic event, nicknamed...