Astronomy
Rare, Dust-Shrouded Dying Star Revealed in New JWST Image
Before exploding as supernovae, massive Wolf-Rayet stars spew gas and dust into space, seeding the formation of future stellar and planetary systems
Astronomy200 articles archived since 1845
Extraterrestrial Life
‘Unstable’ Moons May Be Obliterating Alien Life across the Universe
Collisions between moons and planets may be a regular danger for possible extraterrestrial life
Astronomy
How To Stop a (Potentially Killer) Asteroid
We slammed a $330-million spaceship the size of a dairy cow into an asteroid the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Here’s what we’re learning about how our first step in planetary defense could save us in the future...
Astronomy
Are Telescopes on the Moon Doomed?
Booming exploration and commercial activity could ruin the quiet, astronomy-friendly environment of the lunar far side
Black Holes
Colliding Dwarf Galaxies Reveal a Glimpse of the Early Universe
Scientists may have spotted two pairs of merging dwarf galaxies, each pair with a duo of soon-to-collide black holes
Astronomy
JWST Discovers Enormous Distant Galaxies That Should Not Exist
JWST has discovered giant mature galaxies that seem to have filled the universe shortly after the big bang, and astronomers are puzzled
Astronomy
New Space Radar Will Hunt Planet-Threatening Asteroids
The new ngRADAR at the Green Bank Telescope offers unprecedented Earth-based views of the solar system
Astronomy
The Asteroid Blast That Shook the World Is Still Making an Impact
The Chelyabinsk asteroid slammed into Earth’s atmosphere 10 years ago, the largest impact in more than a century
Astronomy
‘Impossible’ New Ring System Discovered at the Edge of the Solar System
Astronomers are puzzled by a ring around the icy dwarf planet Quaoar that is much farther from its parent body than thought possible
Extraterrestrial Life
Scientists Try to Get Serious about Studying UFOs. Good Luck with That
New dedicated observatories and crowdsourced smartphone apps will study strange sightings in the sky. But questionable data quality and a lack of shared research standards remain key challenges...
Astronomy
Light Pollution Is Dimming Our View of the Sky, and It’s Getting Worse
Citizen scientists and researchers found that we are losing our view of the sky at an astonishing rate of almost 10 percent each year
Astronomy
Satellite Constellations Are an Existential Threat for Astronomy
Growing swarms of spacecraft in orbit are outshining the stars, and scientists fear no one will do anything to stop it
Astronomy
Star Cores Spin Surprisingly Slowly—Scientists Now Think They Know Why
Scientists find that magnetic fields and turbulence amplify each other inside stars’ hidden layers, slowing down the stellar cores’ spin
Astronomy
JWST Heralds a New Dawn for Exoplanet Science
The James Webb Space Telescope is opening an exciting new chapter in the study of exoplanets and the search for life beyond Earth
Planetary Science
Cataclysmic Collisions May Explain ‘Forbidden’ Exoplanets
A new model could explain the scarcity of certain planet sizes
Astronomy
A Recently Discovered Gas Cloud Near Andromeda Stumps Astronomers
Clues to the origin of this enormous cloud of gas have been maddeningly vague
Astronomy
Audio Astronomy Unlocks a Universe of Sound
Turning astronomical data into sound rather than images can inspire blind and visually impaired people—and maybe lead to some discoveries, too
Astronomy
The Best of JWST’s Cosmic Portraits
These new views of familiar space sights reveal details never before seen
Astronomy
9 Science Stories That Restore Our Faith in Humanity
A river’s “gut” revived, snake-saving social media, an intragalactic donut, and more success stories of the year
Astronomy
Construction of World’s Largest Radio Observatory Is Finally Under Way
Two giant telescopes—one in Australia, the other in South Africa—will comprise the supersensitive Square Kilometer Array
