Galaxies

Record-breaking objects can tell us about the most powerful events in the cosmos—sometimes

In our topsy-turvy universe, sometimes the farther away an object is, the bigger it seems to be

Centuries before other galaxies were known to exist, astronomers called them “spiral nebulas.” Today the defunct term still sparks confusion

Observations show the disk of our galaxy is not flat but warped and waving. Astronomers are still working out the reasons why

A cosmic explosion known as GRB 250702B is by far the longest gamma-ray burst astronomers have ever seen—if it’s even one at all

Huge eruptions from the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole in the distant past may have sterilized much of the inner galaxy

Voracious supermassive black holes light up the cores of “active” galaxies across the universe. How we see them, however, is a matter of perspective

When space itself expands, weird things can happen—like galaxies breaking the universe’s ultimate speed limit

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

Galaxies come in many shapes and sizes, and trying to define them is difficult

ORCs—odd radio circles—are one of the weirdest recent discoveries in the heavens above

Nicknamed the “Big Wheel,” a giant, spiral-shaped disk galaxy was spotted in an unusually crowded part of the early universe just two billion years after the big bang