Astronomy

Everything in space—from Earth and the sun to black holes—accounts for just 15% of all matter in the universe. The rest of the cosmos seems to be made of an invisible material astronomers call dark […]

Chinese astronomers have employed NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) to observe an eclipsing binary of the Algol-type, designated V455 Car. Results of the observational campaign are published in the journal New Astronomy.This post was […]

Identifying the formation period of planetary systems, such as our solar system, could be the beginning of the journey to discover the origin of life. The key to this is the unique substructures found in […]

A study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics by a researcher from the Xinjiang Astronomical Observatory (XAO) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has provided new insights into the phenomenon of “pulse nulling”—a sudden cessation of […]

Iron is one of the most abundant heavy elements in the universe. Its spectral features stand out in many astronomical spectra, especially in those of stars and galaxies. As a dominant emitter in many X-ray […]

If a huge asteroid smashes into the moon in 2032, the gigantic explosion would send debris streaming toward Earth that would threaten satellites and create a spectacular meteor shower, according to researchers.This post was originally […]

A team of astronomers and astrophysicists affiliated with several institutions in Australia has found that a mysterious fast radio burst (FRB) detected last year originated not from a distant source, but from one circling the […]

This portrait from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope puts the nearby galaxy NGC 4449 in the spotlight. The galaxy is situated just 12.5 million light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici (the Hunting Dogs). It […]

Professional astronomers don’t make discoveries by looking through an eyepiece like you might with a backyard telescope. Instead, they collect digital images in massive cameras attached to large telescopes.This post was originally published on this […]

NASA will soon launch a one-of-a-kind instrument, called Arcstone, to improve the quality of data from Earth-viewing sensors in orbit. In this technology demonstration, the mission will measure sunlight reflected from the moon— a technique […]