Figuring out the answer involved a prism, a pail of water, and a 50 year effort by the most famous father-son astronomer duo ever.
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In a distant galaxy, a cosmic dance between two supermassive black holes emits periodic flashes of light.
It’s the ultimate game of cosmic “cover up,” as the dimming occurs when a circumbinary disk from a nearby star passes in front of T Tauri North.
The most common visual depictions of the history of the Universe show the Big Bang as a growing tube with an “ignition” point. Why is that?
When we see spiral galaxies, some are face-on, others are edge-on, but most are tipped at an angle. But which side is closest to us?
Nothing can escape from a black hole. So where do Hawking radiation, relativistic jets, and X-ray emissions around black holes come from?
For some reason, when we talk about the age of stars, galaxies, and the Universe, we use “years” to measure time. Can we do better?
Electromagnetism, both nuclear forces, and even the Higgs force are mediated by known bosons. What about gravity? Does it require gravitons?
The Firefly Sparkle galaxy was only spotted because of gravitational lensing’s effects. Yet galaxies like these brought us a visible cosmos.
Although many of Einstein’s papers revolutionized physics, there’s one Einsteinian advance, generally, that towers over all the rest.
In the 20th century, many options abounded as to our cosmic origins. Today, only the Big Bang survives, thanks to this critical evidence.
The first-of-its-kind approval could change how we think about gene-edited foods.
What do ghosts and anomalous galaxy rotation rates have in common? Some sci-fi enthusiasts believe the answer involves “parallel universes.”
In July of 2022, the first science images from JWST were unveiled. Two years later, it’s changed our view of the Universe.
Most fundamental constants could be a little larger or smaller, and our Universe would still be similar. But not the mass of the electron.
The last naked-eye Milky Way supernova happened way back in 1604. With today’s detectors, the next one could solve the dark matter mystery.
Our scientific instruments are constantly improving, revealing nature’s workings as never before. Without them, we’ll remain in the dark.
For thousands of years, humanity had no idea how far away the stars were. In the 1600s, Newton, Huygens, and Hooke all claimed to get there.
Seven years ago, an outburst in a distant galaxy brightened and faded away. Afterward, a new supermassive black hole jet emerged, but how?
Our greatest tool for exploring the world inside atoms and molecules, and specifically electron transitions, just won 2023’s Nobel Prize.
There are a number of factors to consider when choosing where to build a telescope. These 3 locations, on their merits, surpass all others.
Observations of an enormous cosmic structure, dubbed the “Big Ring,” seem to violate the Copernican principle.
Even with just a momentary view of our galaxy right now, the data we collect enables us to reconstruct so much of our past history.
The most massive early galaxies grew up faster, and have more stars, than astronomers expected, according to JWST. What does it all mean?
Scientists may have detected the somewhat smelly chemical dimethyl sulfide on a planet 120 light-years from Earth.
Astronomers claim to have found structures so large, they shouldn’t exist. With such biased, incomplete observations, perhaps they don’t.
A young, nearby, massive star, whose protoplanetary disk appears perfectly edge-on, was just viewed by JWST, with staggering implications.
At extremely close distances to their stars, even rocky planets can be completely disintegrated. We’ve just caught our first one in action.
Historically, astronomers have often named things creatively, bizarrely, and often inaccurately. But which terms are the most egregious?
Holograms preserve all of an object’s 3D information, but on a 2D surface. Could the holographic Universe idea lead us to higher dimensions?