Astronomy

  1. Astronomy

    Faint red stars can build water worlds drip by drip

    Rocky planets around faint red stars have a hard time getting water, but they’re still probably the most common habitable locales in the Milky Way, new computer simulations suggest.

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  2. Astronomy

    Cosmic threads may hide some of universe’s missing matter

    Half the normal matter in the universe might be hiding in cosmic threads strung between clusters of galaxies.

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  3. Astronomy

    Distant star has northern lights–like display

    A dim star shows signs of auroral lights, the first detected on a body that’s not a planet or moon.

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  4. Space

    Best cosmic ‘cradles of life’ may be elliptical in shape

    Giant elliptical galaxies might harbor up to 10,000 times as many Earthlike planets than galaxies like the Milky Way.

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  5. Astronomy

    Kepler telescope identifies new ‘habitable zone’ planet

    A new analysis of data from NASA’s Kepler mission has uncovered a planet orbiting a sunlike star that could be Earth’s “cousin.”

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  6. Space

    Search for E.T. gets financial boost

    Search for extraterrestrial intelligence gets a $100 million donation from a Russian entrepreneur.

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  7. Astronomy

    Source of blazars’ super brightness comes into focus

    Astronomers take a close look at a blazar, a galaxy whose central black hole emits gamma rays and other high-energy material toward Earth.

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  8. Astronomy

    Massive black hole lurks in lightweight galaxy

    A heavyweight black hole grew to weigh as much as 7 billion suns within the first 2 billion years after the Big Bang.

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  9. Astronomy

    Exploding star breaks record for brightest supernova

    A recent supernova shines with the light of 600 billion suns.

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  10. Astronomy

    Beta Pictoris planet makes waves

    Spiral waves whip through the belt of debris around a young star — and it’s all a giant planet’s fault.

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  11. Life

    Puzzling cosmic signals, processed food defined and more reader feedback

    Readers sort out a definition for processed food, discuss the benefits of tinkering with human DNA and more.

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  12. Astronomy

    A loopy look at sunspots

    In visible light, sunspots look like dark blotches that often expel flares of searing plasma. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory offers a different view.

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