Astrophysics

Strange whirlpools of plasma seen in the sharpest images ever captured of our star help explain the deep origins of Earth-threatening space weather and more

Giant black holes adrift in deep space are normally invisible—unless they’re dining on stars

A private spacecraft launched to boost the decaying orbit of NASA’s Swift Observatory is now suffering from potentially mission-ending malfunctions

Using the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory, astronomers are beginning the largest and deepest survey of the sky. What will they see?

For the first time ever, astronomers have found two sibling stars that each exploded as a supernova, giving us a new view of these epochal cosmic cataclysms

Erythrulose—a sugar found in raspberries—is also prevalent in a giant molecular cloud close to our galaxy’s core, scientists have discovered

A best-yet measurement of one of general relativity’s most mind-boggling effects is “another feather in Einstein’s cap”

The discovery of a completely new type of gravitational wave could reveal what happens near a black hole’s event horizon

The James Webb Space Telescope has found nearby brown dwarfs masquerading as far-distant galaxies. The discovery reinforces how, in astronomy, what you see isn’t always what you get

Construction of the Deep Synoptic Array is about to start in rural Nevada. It will reveal untold galaxies in stunning detail and help explain how they form and grow

A galaxy appears to be missing the invisible substance thought to hold such objects together, further challenging long-held assumptions about how galaxies form

This sparkling galaxy is home to a set of supernova remnants that showed variable brightnesses over 14 years of data