Just say no to artist’s illustrations. This is what the Universe actually looks like. The Universe we observe often surpasses our greatest imaginings. This 20-year time-lapse of stars near the center […]
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Debris from Pluto-sized collisions, not aliens, are streaming through the galaxy. In 2017, scientists discovered an object passing through our Solar System that was unlike anything else we had ever seen. […]
Don’t miss the summer’s greatest natural sights of all. Some of the natural highlights of our night sky are easy to overlook. Every year, you’ll hear about some of the brightest, […]
Mass determines a star’s fate… except when it doesn’t. Supernova events are common, visually spectacular astronomical cataclysms. In 1987, a supernova just ~168,000 light-years away was observed in the Large Magellanic […]
No matter how your year went, Hubble’s views of the Universe never disappoint. Year after year, Hubble’s telescopic views are unparalleled. Saturn, its rings, and 5 of its moons are […]
Spirals, ellipticals, and irregulars are all more common than ring galaxies. At last, we know how these ultra-rare objects are made.
Today, it’s common knowledge, but it took scientists centuries to figure out.
Named M51-ULS-1b, it’s certainly a curious astronomical event. But the evidence is far too weak to conclude “planet.”
Unless you plan to try again in 6,800 years, this week is your shot.
The way to understand the earliest moments of creation is to recreate those conditions and study them. Why would we stop now?
The recently discovered Oort cloud comet, Bernardinelli–Bernstein, has the largest known nucleus: 119 km. Here’s what it could do to Earth.
Forget about the terawatt lasers we’re making on Earth. This natural one is thousands of times more powerful than the Sun.
Even after our merger with Andromeda, we might retain our spiral shape for trillions of years. You probably don’t think about it very often, but the Milky Way galaxy won’t remain […]
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope will truly usher in a new era of astronomy. If you want to find the very first galaxy of all, you have to understand not […]
Construction is nearly complete for a camera that will take 3,200-megapixel panoramas of the southern night sky.
Which is good, because if they do, they violate the cosmological principle. In theory, the Universe should be the same, on average, everywhere. A simulation of the large-scale structure of […]
We have to use the right definition for the specific question we’re asking. When it comes to the Universe, we frequently characterize objects by examining and reporting on their physical […]
Astronomers propose new estimate of Earth-like planets in the Milky Way galaxy.
The Roman Space Telescope will study the expansion of the universe and search for distant planets.
In theory, the fabric of space could have been curved in any way imaginable. So why is the Universe flat when we measure it?
An unprecedented number of new satellites threatens the night sky as we know it. Will we act in time to save it?
Shocked city dwellers who stared at it were blinded instantly, then the entire city caught fire.
The Universe is dark, but the distorted light reveals its presence. When we look at the objects in the Universe, the mass just doesn’t add up. A galaxy that was […]
The study identified superhabitable planets outside of our solar system.
The first Earth-sized planet without a parent star has just been discovered. For countless millennia, planets beyond our Solar System were mere speculation. Today, we know of over 4,000 confirmed […]
Researchers discover strange behavior in magnetars, ultra-powerful magnetic stars.
Catch Saturn at its biggest and brightest, and view its rings while you still can. Right now, in Earth’s skies, Saturn appears at its biggest and brightest. A view of tonight’s […]
How we’re seeing black holes as never before… and a whole lot more. It was only back in the early 2000s that scientists were struggling to identify and weigh the small […]
Science is an ongoing flirtation with the unknown.