Astronomy
374 articles-
This Big Space Sandwich Broke a Record
A particularly massive and chaotic baby planetary system captured in exquisite detail -
Saturn’s Rings Are Thicker Than We Thought
New research points to a wide band of particles, invisible to telescopes -
Did a Rogue Planet Bring Order to Our Solar System?
New models suggest a celestial bypasser left us with the current orbital lineup -
Monster Stars Roamed the Cosmos at the Dawn of Time
“A bit like dinosaurs on Earth—they were enormous and primitive” -
These Baby Stars Have Mysterious Companions
The Gaia telescope peeked through gas and dust to pick out the possible beginnings of new planets around infant stars -
Cosmic Collision Caught on Camera
Astronomers witnessed the aftermath of not one but two collisions in space -
Titan May Not Host a Massive Ocean After All
But the moon’s slushy interior could still harbor pockets of life-sustaining water -
How Earth’s Atmosphere Reached the Moon
And what this might mean for colonizing other worlds -
Astronomers Observe Spacetime Whirlpool for the First Time
This theoretical phenomenon was discovered after being predicted by Einstein more than a century ago -
Was the Earth Created by a Supernova Shockwave?
New model suggests cosmic rays from a supernova led to the formation of our planet
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This Black Hole Blasts Cosmic Wind at 130 Million Miles Per Hour
A staggering glimpse into our beautiful, violent universe
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Exploding Stars Like We’ve Never Seen Them
A super crisp look at novae suggests they’re far more chaotic than once thought
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A Speed Camera for the Universe
Astronomers developed a clever method to measure our universe’s expansion
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Satellite Photobombing Is Disrupting Space Telescope Astronomy
Yet another peril of a teeming low Earth orbit
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We Finally Know the Time of Day on Mars
This deceptively difficult question to answer is vital to exploration
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The Secret Busy Lives of Small Icy Moons
A surprising churn of activity conducive to life may lie beneath their frigid surfaces
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The Seven Sisters Get 3,000 New Siblings
New research into the Pleiades points to a crowded stellar nursery -
Scientists Gaze Into the Heart of a Cosmic Vampire
New research into white dwarfs could help us measure our universe -
Was Dark Matter Just Detected for the First Time?
“If this is correct, to the extent of my knowledge, it would mark the first time humanity has ‘seen’ dark matter.” -
What Would Happen If a Black Hole Ripped Through Your Body
A frightening thought experiment offers surprisingly comforting results -
Earth’s Nastiest Neighbor Was Closer Than We Thought
The Mars-size object that smashed into our planet and made the moon came from the inner solar system