Cosmology
- Astronomy
Dark matter is MIA in this strange galaxy
A galaxy without dark matter bolsters the case that the invisible substance really exists.
- Cosmology
Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking dies at 76
Beyond his research contributions, Stephen Hawking popularized black holes and the deep questions of the cosmos.
- Cosmology
Here’s when the universe’s first stars may have been born
The first stars lit the cosmos by 180 million years after the Big Bang, radio observations suggest.
- Cosmology
Remembering Joe Polchinski, the modest physicist who conceived a multiverse
String theorists lament the death of Joe Polchinski, one of their field’s most esteemed and respected thinkers.
- Cosmology
The way dwarf galaxies move puts a new spin on galaxy formation
Distant dwarf galaxies orbit a larger galaxy in a coordinated loop, rather than randomly as expected. The finding could challenge theories of dark matter.
- Astronomy
Universes with no weak force might still have stars and life
An alternate universe that lacks one of the four fundamental forces might still have galaxies, stars, planets and perhaps life, a new study suggests.
- Particle Physics
Clumps of dark matter could be lurking undetected in our galaxy
Dark matter, assumed to form featureless blobs, might clump together into smaller objects.
- Cosmology
Readers wonder about the universe’s expansion and more
Readers had questions about the universe's accelerating expansion, a hidden void in the Great Pyramid of Giza and what happens to human waste in space.
- Astronomy
White dwarf’s inner makeup is mapped for the first time
The first map of the internal composition of a white dwarf star shows these stellar corpses contain more oxygen than expected, challenging stellar evolution theories.
- Astronomy
86 stars get official names
The International Astronomical Union has released 86 newly official star names, based, in part, on historical star names from various indigenous cultures.
- Astronomy
The most distant quasar ever spotted hails from the universe’s infancy
The new record-holder for faraway quasars comes from a period of rapid change in the universe.
- Cosmology
Simulating the universe using Einstein’s theory of gravity may solve cosmic puzzles
Better simulating the dense parts of the universe could improve scientists’ view of how the universe evolves.
