Gravitation, all on its own, can reveal what’s present in the cosmos like nothing else.
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50% of stars are in Sun-like ‘singlet’ systems. The planetary nebulae we see just don’t line up. Around 7 billion years from now, our Sun’s life will end. As the Sun […]
We confidently state that the Universe is known to be 13.8 billion years old, with an uncertainty of just 1%. Here’s how we know.
After a wait of 397 years in orbit, we’re finally getting a truly ‘Great’ Conjunction. Recently, December 21, 2020, Jupiter and Saturn finally met. Looking towards the southwest skies from […]
Sun-like stars live for around 10 billion years, but our Universe is only 13.8 billion years old. So what’s the maximum lifetime for a star?
Oxygen is thought to be a biomarker for extraterrestrial life, but there are at least three different ways that a lifeless planet can produce it.
Achieving values and pursuing growth is the real secret to a fulfilled life.
What do we mean by a black hole’s size? A photon sphere? The minimal stable orbit? The event horizon? The singularity? Which one is right?
The boiling new world, which zips around its star at ultraclose range, is among the lightest exoplanets found to date.
The closest star system to Earth, just over 4 light-years away, has three stars and at least one Earth-sized planet. Is it time to go there?
One galaxy may have eaten one of its slightly smaller, more primitive neighbors.
For many years, cosmologists have claimed the Universe is 13.8 billion years old. A new paper says no, it’s 26.7 billion. How do we decide?
Before there were planets, stars, and galaxies, before even neutral atoms or stable protons, there was the Big Bang. How did we prove it?
We pretend to be in control, but we have frighteningly little knowledge upon which to base our life’s decisions.
The newly discovered galaxies are 62 times bigger than the Milky Way.
We can do so much more, so much faster, with the same data. When you think about how astronomy works, you probably think about observers pointing telescopes at objects, collecting data […]
Finding out how the Universe grew up was the biggest science goal of JWST. This ultra-early proto-galaxy cluster is one amazing discovery.
The secret ingredient is violence, and it just might indicate that “moonmoons” aren’t as uncommon as most astronomers think.
If you had a clear western horizon, you had your shot at this view! On September 9, 2021, the Moon and Venus nearly overlapped. A simulated view of the post-sunset skies […]
By the end of the decade, we may discover one million black holes. A large enough mass in a compact volume inevitably forms a black hole. Both inside and outside the […]
It’s last “hard” test is over. Now, we wait for its launch. Despite numerous delays, funding crises, and technical challenges, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is almost ready. The science instruments […]
Using image analysis tools developed for astronomy, researchers are predicting cancer therapy responses.
Telescopes from the ground are bigger, but have to fight the atmosphere. Here’s how to win. In astronomy, seeing farther and fainter than ever before requires three simultaneous approaches. First light, […]
Speeding through the Universe and leaving a wake of new stars, this runaway supermassive black hole is likely the first among thousands.
A new government report describes 144 sightings of unidentified aerial phenomena.
New studies find the interstellar comet 2I/Borisov is the most “pristine” ever discovered.
When we look at the night sky, we may see junk instead of stars.
Not nearly well enough. And we should all be concerned. In 1859, the science of solar physics truly began with the largest eruption in recorded history: the Carrington event. Prior […]
All across the Universe, planets come in a wide variety of sizes, masses, compositions, and temperatures. And most have rain and snow.
With radio and X-ray data combined, we’re understanding how energy flows like never before. When we look out at the Universe on the largest cosmic scales of all, gravity is the […]