Astronomy

Astronomy

Second Time Around: Some old stars may make new planets

Two old stars appear to have been rejuvenated and may be undergoing a new wave of planet formation hundreds of millions to billions of years after young stars normally do.

Astronomy

Heavy Find: Weighty neutron stars may rule out exotic core

Neutron stars may be the weirdest stars in the universe, but they don't seem to be very strange, a weighty new report finds.

Astronomy

Twinkle, Twinkle: Dark matter may have lit up first stars

The earliest stars in the universe might have been fueled by dark matter instead of nuclear fusion.

Astronomy

Black Hole Bully: Galaxy blasts its smaller neighbor

A distant galaxy is shooting a deadly jet of radiation at a neighboring galaxy, astronomers have observed.

Astronomy

Run of the Mill: Finding galactic building blocks in early universe

Astronomers have discovered 27 faint, run-of-the-mill galaxies from the early universe that may be some of the building blocks of giant galaxies such as the Milky Way.

Astronomy

Stellar Opposites: Sky survey reveals new halo of stars

The Milky Way galaxy possesses a distinct outer halo that orbits in the opposite direction from its inner halo and the rest of the galaxy.

Astronomy

One star, five planets

With the discovery of a fifth planet circling the nearby star 55 Cancri, astronomers have found the most abundant—and heaviest—planetary system beyond the sun's.

Astronomy

Flare-Up: Comet Holmes’ surprise bloom

Comet 17P/Holmes abruptly brightened last month, blossoming into a naked eye object.

Astronomy

Ray Tracing: Energetic cosmic rays linked to giant black holes

New observations suggest that ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays originate in the cores of nearby galaxies harboring supermassive black holes.

Astronomy

Gammas from Heaven

An orbiting gamma-ray observatory, set for launch next spring, will seek out the most violent events in the cosmos.

Astronomy

Odd Couples: Big black holes challenge star theory

The discovery of a black hole almost 16 times as massive as the sun, and the possible discovery of an even heavier one, challenge theories of how such black holes form.

Astronomy

Record-breaking supernova

A newly discovered supernova, 100 billion times as bright as the sun, is the most luminous ever recorded.