Stories by Jonathan O'Callaghan

Scientists have finally found the compact object at the heart of the famous supernova of 1987, and it’s not a black hole

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) will open a new era in astronomy that brings scientists to the brink of studying gravitational waves from the beginning of time

Rather than ripping up our fundamental models of the universe, the unexpectedly big and bright galaxies spied in the early universe by JWST probably have astrophysical explanations

Japan’s SLIM precision-landing spacecraft—a potential game-changer for upcoming lunar exploration—may expire on the moon before fulfilling its mission

A serendipitously discovered object nearly as massive as the Milky Way appears to be made of primordial gas that has formed almost no stars

Unique studies of gravity waves, atmospheric holes and dazzling coronal displays will accompany April’s total solar eclipse across the U.S., Mexico and Canada

Astronomers are moving ahead in planning NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory, a telescope designed to answer the ultimate question: Are we alone in the universe?

Amaterasu—the most powerful cosmic ray seen in three decades—seems to come from an empty point of the sky. New telescopes may solve the mystery of its origins

Scientists still can’t explain what is causing unusually bright explosions in space—but a surprising observation might offer clues

Images from each and every spacecraft now orbiting Mars have ruled out a meteorite strike as the cause of a 4.7-magnitude marsquake, the strongest temblor ever detected beyond Earth

NASA has reversed course on plans to curtail the New Horizons spacecraft’s planetary science studies following a rebellion among the mission’s leaders

250 million years from now, the emergence of a new supercontinent could render most of Earth’s surface uninhabitable for mammals

Magnetars possess magnetic fields that are trillions of times stronger than those of ordinary stars. Now we might have seen one of these extraordinary objects about to form

The Luna 25 spacecraft will attempt to land at the lunar south pole for the first time in a hunt for valuable water ice

Astronomers are now seeking to pinpoint the origins of an exciting new form of gravitational waves that was announced earlier this year

Astronomers are piecing together the final moments of supernova 2023ixf and learning more about it than any other in recent history

The Euclid mission will probe dark energy and dark matter like never before, setting the stage for an international, multiobservatory push to solve some of the universe’s deepest mysteries

Telltale evidence gathered by the James Webb Space Telescope suggests we’re closer than ever before to finding elusive Population III stars

White dwarfs, Earth-sized exoplanets, early galaxies and even Saturn’s moon Enceladus are on the agenda for JWST’s second year in space, but exomoons and others miss out

A new way to gauge the universe’s expansion rate has delivered a confusing result that may conflict with previous related measurements

New results from a U.A.E. orbiter suggest Mars’s moons may be pieces of the planet. A Japanese mission will tell us for sure

We now know that the first galaxies in our universe formed shockingly fast, thanks to the latest results from the James Webb Space Telescope

A half-kilogram’s worth of samples gathered by NASA’s Perseverance rover for eventual return to Earth holds weighty implications for life on Mars

A new European mission is the first of two spacecraft—with the other coming from NASA—that will hunt for signs of habitability on Jupiter’s icy moons