Astrophysics

Bizarre phenomena called light echoes create strange, shifting shapes seen in some telescopic images and help astronomers chart the heavens above

Scientists are uncovering how spinning black holes launch jets, warp spacetime and shape the cosmos

Astronomers think small space rocks from beyond our solar system routinely strike Earth—but proving it isn’t easy

Less than a decade since the first detection of gravitational waves—ripples in spacetime itself—proposed budget cuts threaten to silence this groundbreaking science

Researchers hoped CMB-S4, a $900-million cosmology experiment, would answer one of the greatest questions in physics. Instead it’s become another cautionary tale of pursuing big science amid shrinking budgets

The future is bright—too bright—for life as we know it once the sun transforms into a red giant star

Astronomers have never had this much data available this quickly before

Close stellar encounters could change the structure of our planetary system, potentially dooming Earth or other worlds to oblivion

Inspired by superconductivity, a strange new theory that seeks to explain dark matter might explain dark energy, too

Astronomy fans can zoom in practically forever into the stunning first images from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory

Spacecraft can get a significant boost by stealing energy from planets

Gaia, Europe’s Milky Way–mapping spacecraft, shut down earlier this year. It was arguably the most important—and most overlooked—astronomy project of the 21st century