Astrophysics

The death of a massive star far across the universe affected lightning on our planet and could teach us about the Milky Way

The MICROSCOPE mission tested the weak equivalence principle with free-falling objects in a satellite

Conny Aerts is an astrophysicist and a pioneer of asteroseismology. This year she shared the Kavli Prize in Astrophysics for her research and leadership that has laid the foundations of solar and stellar structure theory, and revolutionized our understanding of the interiors of stars.

Surprisingly, some worlds can survive being engulfed by a sunlike star when it swells to become a red giant

By finding and studying the universe’s oldest objects, we can reveal hidden fundamental chapters of cosmic history

The alien comets could illuminate the history of their planetary system

By dating nearly a quarter-million stars, astronomers were able to reconstruct the history of our galaxy—and they say it has lived an “enormously sheltered life.”

If the invisible matter does not appear in experiments or particle colliders, we may have to find it in space

An updated communication could be beamed out for space alien listeners in hopes of making first contact

Researchers have sighted only a handful of these odd radio circles and are trying to pin down what causes them

With its mirrors now focused, the observatory’s science instruments are now being readied for work