Astronomy

Physics

Uranium ‘snowflakes’ could set off thermonuclear explosions of dead stars

Uranium crystals that settle in the cores of white dwarfs could trigger nuclear chain reactions that blow the dead stars apart, a new study suggests.

Astronomy

Here’s why humans chose particular groups of stars as constellations

Distances between stars, their brightnesses and patterns of human eye movement explain why particular sets of stars tend to be grouped together.

Astronomy

The ‘USS Jellyfish’ emits strange radio waves from a distant galaxy cluster

The unusual pattern of radio waves dubbed the USS Jellyfish tells a story of intergalactic gas meeting black hole by-products.

Astronomy

A new black hole image reveals the behemoth’s magnetic fields

A new analysis of Event Horizon Telescope data from 2017 brings to light the magnetic fields twisted around the black hole at the core of galaxy M87.

Astronomy

Carbon-ring molecules tied to life were found in space for the first time

Two types of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the Taurus Molecular Cloud are far more abundant than predicted.

Astronomy

A gargantuan supernova remnant looks 40 times as big as the full moon

New observations confirm that a cloud in the constellation Antlia really is a supernova remnant and the largest ever seen from Earth.

Astronomy

Andromeda’s and the Milky Way’s black holes will collide. Here’s how it may play out

Supermassive black holes in the Milky Way and Andromeda will engulf each other less than 17 million years after the galaxies merge, simulations show.

Physics

Black hole visionaries push the boundaries of knowledge in a new film

‘Black Holes: The Edge of All We Know’ follows researchers with the Event Horizon Telescope and other physicists working to understand black holes.

Astronomy

Signs of a hidden Planet Nine in the solar system may not hold up

Hints of a remote planet relied on clumped up orbits of bodies beyond Neptune. A new study suggests that clumping is an illusion.

Astronomy

The first black hole ever discovered is more massive than previously thought

New observations of Cygnus X-1 are leading astronomers to rethink what they know about stars that turn into black holes.

Astronomy

The number of Milky Way nova explosions per year has been pinned down

Knowing how frequently these stellar eruptions occur will help determine their contribution to the galaxy’s chemical makeup.

Astronomy

Two exoplanet families redefine what planetary systems can look like

The TRAPPIST-1 and TOI-178 systems, both home to multiple bunched-up planets, have densities and orbits that defy expectations.