The First Stars in the Universe
Exceptionally massive and bright, the earliest stars changed the course of cosmic history
Features
Fountains of Youth: Early Days in the Life of a Star
To make a star, gas and dust must fall inward. So why do astronomers see stuff streaming outward?
Companions to Young Stars
The surprising finding that even the youngest stars commonly exist in sets of two or three has revised thinking about the birth of star systems
The Discovery of Brown Dwarfs
Less massive than stars but more massive than planets, brown dwarfs were long assumed to be rare. New sky surveys, however, show that the objects may be as common as stars
The Stellar Dynamo
Sunspot cycles--on other stars--are helping astronomers study the sun's variations and the ways they might affect Earth
The Fury of Solar Storms
Shock waves from the sun can trigger severe turbulence in the space around earth, endangering satellites and astronauts in orbit. A novel spacecraft is showing how space storms develop
When Stars Collide
When two stars smash into each other, it can be a very pretty sight (as long as you're not too close by). These occurrences were once considered impossible, but they have turned out to be common in certain galactic neighborhoods...
X-Ray Binaries
In these systems, ultradense neutron stars feed on their more sedate companions. Such stellar cannibalism produces brilliant outpourings of x-rays and drastically alters the evolution of both stars...
Magnetars
Some stars are magnetized so intensely that they emit huge bursts of magnetic energy and alter the very nature of the quantum vacuum
Supersoft X-Ray Stars and Supernovae
Several years ago astronomers came across a new type of starthat spews out unusually low energy x-rays. These so-called supersoft sources are now thought to be white dwarf stars that cannibalize their stellar companions and then, in many cases, explode...
Binary Neutron Stars
These paired stellar remnants supply exquisite confirmations of general relativity. Their inevitable collapse produces what may be the strongest explosions in the universe
The Brightest Explosions in the Universe
Every time a gamma-ray burst goes off, a black hole is born
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Exposé on the Stars
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