Astronomy

Astronomy

Clouds in the Milky Way’s plasma bubbles came from the starry disk — and far beyond

Gas clouds in the Fermi bubbles have a wide range of chemical compositions, suggesting some may have been ripped from other galaxies.

Astronomy

A fast radio burst’s rapid, steady beat offers a clue to its cosmic origin

Amped-up neutron stars, pairs of magnetically entangled neutron stars or magnetar quakes could explain a three-second-long train of radio blips.

Astronomy

The most distant rotating galaxy hails from 13.3 billion years ago

Astronomers have spotted a rotating galaxy whose light comes from just 500 million years after the Big Bang.

Astronomy

Here are the James Webb Space Telescope’s stunning first pictures

President Biden revealed the NASA telescope's image of ancient galaxies whose light has been traveling 13 billion years to reach us.

Astronomy

Sand clouds are common in atmospheres of brown dwarfs

Dozens of newly examined brown dwarfs have clouds of silicates, confirming an old theory and revealing how these failed stars live.

Quantum Physics

Aliens could send quantum messages to Earth, calculations suggest

Scientists are developing quantum communications networks on Earth. Aliens, if they exist, could be going further.

Astronomy

An otherwise quiet galaxy in the early universe is spewing star stuff

Seen as it was 700 million years after the Big Bang, the galaxy churns out a relatively paltry number of stars. And yet it’s heaving gas into space.

Astronomy

Gravitational wave ‘radar’ could help map the invisible universe

Gravity ripples scattering off warped spacetime near massive objects might help astronomers peer inside stars and find globs of dark matter.

Astronomy

Seven newfound dwarf galaxies sit on just one side of a larger galaxy

Seven newly found dwarf galaxy candidates are stick to just one side of the large galaxy M81. Astronomers don’t know why.

Astronomy

Neutrinos hint the sun has more carbon and nitrogen than previously thought

Scientists still don’t know the sun’s exact chemical composition, which is crucial for understanding the entire universe. Neutrinos will help.

Astronomy

A celestial loner might be the first known rogue black hole

The object could be the first isolated stellar-mass black hole identified in the Milky Way — or it might be an unusually heavy neutron star.

Astronomy

New Gaia data paint the most detailed picture yet of the Milky Way

Gaia’s new data can tell us about galaxies the Milky Way has swallowed, the young solar system and asteroids that could hit Earth.