Stories by Jonathan O'Callaghan

The formation of spiral galaxies remains an open question in astronomy, but a new study offers a fresh look into how these structures emerge

CHEOPS will be the first mission designed to study—rather than find—alien worlds

Could the mysterious particle be our window into studying dark matter?

Astronomers say they have detected the long-sought remnant of a relatively close supernova

The first scientific results from the spacecraft’s exit into interstellar space have been published, revealing a simpler departure than its predecessor

Some experts are alarmed by plans to launch tens of thousands of revolutionary telecommunications satellites in coming years

Anomalous motions of stars orbiting our galaxy’s central supermassive black hole might reveal the existence of long-hypothesized tunnels through spacetime

The object 2I/Borisov has the same composition as comets in the solar system, suggesting its system of origin might resemble ours

New data suggest the New York Railroad Storm could have surpassed the intensity of the famous Carrington Event of 1859

The “fluke” find of a possible visitor from another star after the 2017 discovery of ‘Oumuamua offers thrilling scientific opportunities

As the fourth anniversary of the first detection approaches, the field continues to mature—with a bright future ahead

The Chandrayaan-2 mission’s Vikram lander is presumed lost after falling silent in the final moments of its descent

A new study suggests the last field reversal 773,000 years ago took 22,000 years to occur, which could explain some of the inner workings of our planet’s core

Improved data analysis could substantially increase the total known planets from NASA’s K2 mission, revealing fascinating new worlds and intriguing planetary patterns

The composition of ground rock in a area influences the likelihood of electrical blackouts from solar storms

For the first time, astronomers have pinpointed the location of a nonrepeating fast radio burst, and the result defies expectations

Launching in 2028, the European Space Agency’s newly announced mission will wait in space for an exciting target

Delays to the James Webb Space Telescope will result in at least a yearlong hiatus in space-based infrared observations

The Chang’e-4 mission appears to have found material excavated from a frozen magma ocean far below the lunar surface

Plans for thousands of new communications satellites would revolutionize global telecommunications but also raise risks of disaster in Earth orbit

Researchers may have already glimpsed the first-known exomoon—a satellite of a planet orbiting another star; but confirmation of that potential discovery could be many years away

The iron core of what was once a world has been found around a white dwarf star, shedding light on the final days of planetary systems—including our own

Around the globe, imminent decisions on proposed next-generation experiments are set to shape particle physics for decades to come

Some sounds might possess a tiny but measurable amount of negative gravitational mass