Astronomy

Researchers in the U.S. have carried out the most stringent tests to date of the idea that an ultraviolet glow in the atmospheres of giant planets could partly arise through the indirect interaction between dark […]

The 570-megapixel Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera (DECam) captures a vibrant scene filled with swirls and stars reminiscent of Van Gogh’s The Starry Night. This new cosmic masterpiece features the glowing nebula NGC 6729 […]

Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have discovered a giant planet outside our solar system, called an exoplanet, hiding within one of the most intensely studied planetary systems in the Milky Way galaxy.This post […]

Listening to the “ringing” produced by black holes after they collide and merge could allow scientists to test Einstein’s theory of general relativity under the most extreme conditions in the universe while unlocking the secrets […]

Despite their depiction as massive monsters that simply suck in everything, including light, astronomers know black holes actually spin. And they spin really, really quickly. Determining just how quickly is key to understanding how they […]

Peak star formation took place during cosmic noon, between 2–3 billion years after the Big Bang. The star formation rate (SFR) back then was up to 100 times greater than it is today. For the […]

Typically, astronomers identify comets by their distinct atmospheres, or comae, and their tails, which are created as the sun vaporizes a comet’s ice. These features emit a glow when sunlight bounces off dust and water […]

European astronomers have conducted optical and radio observations of an enigmatic radio source designated GRS 0917+75. As a result, they found that GRS 0917+75 is a giant radio galaxy and determined its properties. The new […]

A team of astronomers has discovered a third planet orbiting the star Beta Pictoris. The new planet, Beta Pictoris d, is 100 times fainter than Beta Pictoris b—the first planet discovered in the same system—and […]

Astronomers have used the ages of more than 155,000 stars in the Milky Way to independently estimate the age of the universe, and their findings may be good news for the standard cosmological model. The […]