Astronomy

Astronomy

Temperamental Monsters

A new theory suggests that many huge stars undergo outbursts during which they shed most of their mass late in life rather than doing it gradually over their 3-to-4-million-year lifetimes.

Astronomy

Too Much Deuterium?

A new study appears to solve a 35-year-old puzzle about the distribution of deuterium in the Milky Way, but poses new questions about how stars and galaxies are formed.

Astronomy

Spiral galaxy in the young universe

Astronomers have identified a galaxy that had already begun to resemble the modern Milky Way when the universe was only 3 billion years old, one-fifth of its current age.

Astronomy

Enlightened: Dark matter spotted after cosmic crash

In the aftermath of a cosmic crash between two galaxies, researchers say they've detected invisible dark matter for the first time.

Astronomy

Cosmic bigness

Astronomers have found the largest structures ever discovered in the universe.

Astronomy

New Solar System? Twelve planets and counting (Updated)

According to a new proposal, the solar system has 12 planets instead of the familiar 9, with several dozen more to come.

Astronomy

The Sun’s Halo in 3-D

A new computer map of the sun's outer atmosphere and spacecraft ready for launch are expected to shed new light on the origin of solar eruptions and provide more accurate warning of their impact on Earth.

Astronomy

Solar System Small Fry: Stellar blinks reveal tiny bodies near Pluto

By measuring tiny dips in the intensity of X rays from a distant star, astronomers say they have detected more than 50 of the tiniest chunks of ice ever found in the outer solar system.

Astronomy

Braking news: Disks slow down stars

Astronomers have the first clear-cut evidence that rotating young stars are slowed by the planet-forming disks of gas and dust that surround many of them.

Astronomy

Double disks

Astronomers have confirmed that the nearby star Beta Pictoris has two disks of dust orbiting it, each of which is generated by debris likely to be left over from planet formation.

Astronomy

Black Hole Explorations

What would it be like to orbit a black hole—or even to fall into one? You can find out by exploring the world of black holes in a Web site created by a team at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md. For a fully interactive multimedia experience, click “Journey to a Black Hole” […]

Astronomy

Recurrent Eruption: Explosive stellar saga

Six thermonuclear explosions have ripped off the outer layers of a dense, nearby star in the past 108 years.