Astronomy

Astronomy

The earliest known galaxy merger occurred shortly after the Big Bang

Telescopes show two distant blobs of stars and gas swirling around each other in the young universe.

Astronomy

In a first, telescopes tracked a lone fast radio burst to a faraway galaxy

First-time observations suggest that the cause of one-time fast radio bursts is different from what triggers repeatedly flashing radio bursts.

Astronomy

A new algorithm finds nearby stars that could host hidden worlds

An algorithm dubbed “Netflix for exoplanets” identified more than 350 stars that, based on their chemistry, might have planets orbiting out of sight.

Astronomy

The highest-energy photons ever seen hail from the Crab Nebula

An experiment in Tibet spotted photons with over 100 trillion electron volts of energy.

Astronomy

The cosmic ‘Cow’ may be a strange supernova

New observations suggest the strange bright burst called the ‘Cow’ was a supernova, rather than a shredded star.

Astronomy

Readers boggled by black hole behemoth

Readers had questions about the first image of a black hole and a chytrid fungus.

Astronomy

Table salt may be hiding in Europa’s underground sea

Observations of Europa by the Hubble Space Telescope suggest that the moon’s ice-covered ocean may hold sodium chloride, or common table salt.

Astronomy

Massive superflares have been seen erupting from stars like the sun

Older stars, like the sun, can still send out massive bursts of energy that can be seen from light-years away.

Astronomy

Astronomers may have spotted the ghost galaxy that hit the Milky Way long ago

Astronomers think they’ve identified a galaxy that hit the Milky Way and ruffled its edges millions of years ago.

Astronomy

50 years ago, scientists wanted to build solar panels on the moon

In 1969, scientists proposed building solar panels on the moon to convert the sun’s energy into electricity that can be used on Earth.

Astronomy

In a first, magnetic fields have been spotted between two galaxy clusters

The discovery of magnetic fields in the gaseous filament between two galaxy clusters suggests that some large cosmic structures are magnetized.

Astronomy

The accretion disk around our galaxy’s black hole has been spotted at last

The Milky Way's central black hole has a disk of gas and dust orbiting it, astronomers can finally say with confidence.