Astronomy

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.

Astronomy

Motion of two nearby galaxies clouds the picture

The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are not gravitationally bound to the Milky Way, but are relative newcomers passing by for the first time.

Astronomy

Sunstruck: Solar hurricanes rip comet’s tail

Images from a spacecraft show a magnetic hurricane from the sun severing a comet's ion tail.