Astrophysics1380 articles archived since 1845

Running Lights: Did Expelled Stars Re-Ionize the Ancient Universe?

Hot stars booted out of their galactic homes may be responsible for creating the conditions that led to today's universe

How Hot Is the Hottest Star? [Excerpt]

In a new book, astronomer Bryan Gaensler explores the extremes of the universe

Pioneer Spacecraft Warmth Takes Heat off Relativity

The tiny slowing of the two Pioneer spacecraft, known as the Pioneer anomaly and considered by some to challenge general relativity, is probably due to the heat produced by electronics and radioactive decay...

Primordial Pinwheel: Astronomers Spot Oldest Prominent Spiral Galaxy Yet

Three billion years after the big bang most galaxies were clumpy and odd-shaped, but at least one had already assumed a familiar form, and may elucidate how modern galaxies got their shapes...

Partners Line Up to Join the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope

The past few years have not been the best of times for building observatories. But in a world of budget constraints and schedule delays, the LSST is bucking the trend

How Black Holes Shape the Galaxies, Stars and Planets around Them

The matter-eating beast at the center of the Milky Way may actually account for Earth's existence and habitability

Chat at 4:30 P.M. EDT on What Comes Next in Higgs Research

Join us for a live online chat about last week's Higgs news with physicist Michael Tuts of Columbia University. Tuts will help explain where physicists go from here

New Moon for Pluto: Hubble Telescope Spots a 5th Plutonian Satellite

The newfound moon and its kin may be remnants of an ancient smashup

Dark Matter Bridges Galaxy Clusters

Gravitational lensing shows that two galaxy clusters are connected by a filament of dark matter. John Matson reports

From Space to Soil in 7 Minutes [Slide Show]

From Space to Soil in 7 Minutes [Slide Show]

Gravitionally Lensed Light Caused by Ancient Massive Galaxy Cluster

Astronomers observed light warped by the lensing effect of a massive galaxy cluster more than 10 billion light-years away, the most distant cluster ever responsible for perceived lensing...

Chat at 11 A.M. EDT on Higgs Boson News from CERN

Join us for a live online chat with physicist Michael Tuts of Columbia University. Tuts will help us understand what this morning’s announcement about the Higgs means for physics

Birth of Flight

The Early Years of the Airplane

Reality-Bending Black Holes

Drawn to the abyss

Race to the Sky

The competitive spirit led not only to flight, but also to controversy, lawsuits and plenty of ill will

The 62nd Annual Lindau Meeting: Connecting Generations of Physicists

More than 20 Nobel laureates and about 550 young researchers from dozens of countries will meet at Germany's Lindau Island on Lake Constance from July 1-6 to discuss classic and cutting-edge physics...

Could the Large Hadron Collider Discover the Particle Underlying Both Mass and Cosmic Inflation?

If the LHC discovers the Higgs boson or other theoretical particles, their existence could help explain inflation, one of the universe's great mysteries

Tidal Evidence Suggests Water Sloshes Beneath Titan's Icy Crust

New results make it clear that Saturn's moon Titan is one of the solar system's subset of large satellites with oceans

Supernova Could Have Caused Mysterious "Red Crucifix" in the Sky in A.D. 774

An ancient text suggests that an eighth-century jump in carbon 14 levels in trees could be explained by a previously unrecognized supernova explosion