Astronomy

Astronomy

Jet Set: Astronomers identify the makeup of quasar streams

Astronomers have identified the particles in jets emanating from supermassive black holes as electrons and protons, which carry much more energy than some computer models had suggested.

Astronomy

Oversize supernova

Researchers have found a supernova so luminous that it must have been produced by a much heavier star than the standard theory allows.

Astronomy

Enigmatic Eruptions: Gamma-ray bursts lack supernova fireworks

The most powerful bursts in the universe may have gotten more mysterious.

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.