Astronomy
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.”
- Space
Search for E.T. gets financial boost
Search for extraterrestrial intelligence gets a $100 million donation from a Russian entrepreneur.
- 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.
- 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.
- Astronomy
Exploding star breaks record for brightest supernova
A recent supernova shines with the light of 600 billion suns.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Astronomy
Super-Earths are not a good place for plate tectonics
The intense pressures inside super-Earths make plate tectonics less likely, new research suggests.
- Astronomy
Advice to a baby planet: Avoid black holes
A dust cloud looping around the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole might have once been an infant planet.
