Astrophysics
Learning to Live in Steven Weinberg’s Pointless Universe
The late physicist’s most infamous statement still beguiles scientists and vexes believers
Astrophysics1357 articles archived since 1845
Astrophysics
Highest-Energy Particles Yet Arrive from Ancient Crab Nebula
Astronomers have observed record-breaking photons that strain classical theories of acceleration
Black Holes
Black Holes Swallow Neutron Stars in a Single Bite, New Results Suggest
At long last, the definitive discovery completes a trifecta of astrophysical events that were forecast by gravitational-wave astronomers
Astrophysics
Stars Made of Antimatter Might Be Lurking in the Universe
Circumstantial evidence could point to a mind-blowing solution to an antimatter mystery—or to the need for better space-based particle physics experiments
Black Holes
Death by Primordial Black Hole
If such an object a mere 1,000 times bigger than an atom passed through your body, the result would not be pretty
Astrophysics
Searching for the Universe’s Most Energetic Particles, Astronomers Turn on the Radio
New radio-based observatories could soon detect ultrahigh-energy neutrinos, opening a new window on extreme cosmic physics
Black Holes
Magnetic Field around a Black Hole Mapped for the First Time
Images from the Event Horizon Telescope reveal new details of how supermassive black holes produce huge jets of matter and energy
Astrophysics
Galaxy-Size Gravitational-Wave Detector Hints at Exotic Physics
Recent results from a pulsar timing array, which uses dead stars to hunt for gravitational waves, has scientists speculating about cosmic strings and primordial black holes
Cosmology
The Cosmological Constant Is Physics’ Most Embarrassing Problem
Physicists have new ideas about why the energy of empty space is so much weaker than it is predicted to be
Astrophysics
Giant Galaxies from the Universe’s Childhood Challenge Cosmic Origin Stories
Large galaxies are thought to form gradually, across billions of years of cosmic time. So why do astronomers keep finding them in the youthful early universe?
Astrophysics
Gravitational Waves Probe Exotic Matter inside Neutron Stars
A new analysis of light and gravitational waves from colliding neutron stars helps reveal what’s inside these ultradense objects
Astrophysics
What 50 Gravitational-Wave Events Reveal about the Universe
Astrophysicists now have enough black-hole mergers to map their frequency over the cosmos’s history
Quantum Physics
Quantum Time Twist Offers a Way to Create Schrödinger’s Clock
Physicists describe a way to merge quantum theory with Einstein’s special theory of relativity—and even a method to test it experimentally
Black Holes
Black Hole Scientists Win Nobel Prize in Physics
Half the award goes to Roger Penrose, with the rest split between Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez, for work revealing the “darkest secrets of the universe”...
Black Holes
The First Ever Image of a Black Hole Is Now a Movie
Pictures created from old observations show the void’s stormy evolution over the past decade
Black Holes
Tiny Gravitational-Wave Detector Could Search Anywhere in the Sky
A much smaller and more reproducible version of LIGO could transform gravitational-wave astronomy
Astrophysics
The Strange Hearts of Neutron Stars
Space observations are poised to reveal more about the centre of one of the Universe’s most enigmatic objects
Particle Physics
Antimatter Discovery Reveals Clues about the Universe’s Beginning
New evidence from neutrinos points to one of several theories about why the cosmos is made of matter and not antimatter
Black Holes
This Black-Hole Collision Just Made Gravitational Waves Even More Interesting
An unprecedented signal from unevenly sized objects gives astronomers rare insight into how black holes spin
Black Holes
Meet “Spikey,” a Possible Pair of Merging Supermassive Black Holes
A flare predicted for this spring could confirm the object is indeed two monstrous black holes coming together
