Astrophysics

Astronomers believe that in the distant future, trillions of years from now, new and exotic types of stars will form across the universe.

Four Types of Stars That Will Not Exist for Billions or Even Trillions of Years

According to models of stellar evolution, certain types of stars need longer than the universe has existed to form

Scientists Predict Sun Will One Day Turn Into Giant Crystal Ball

New observations of white dwarfs confirm theory that the star remnants transition into solid structures as they cool

An artist's conception of the view from Farout.

Meet Farout, the Solar System's Most Distant Minor Planet

Observations suggest the object is 300 miles in diameter, pinkish-red and 3.5 times as far away from the sun as Pluto

Corona image from the Parker Solar Probe

Solar Probe Sends Back First Image and Data From the Sun

The Parker Solar Probe survived its first swoop around our star and will get even closer on its next two dozen trips

Extragalactic Background Light

This Is How Much Starlight the Universe Has Produced

4,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, 000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 photons over 13.7 billion years

If Light Can't Escape Black Holes, How Do We Get Photos of Them... and More Questions From Our Readers

You asked, we answered

None

Astrophysicist Michelle Thaller on Understanding Our Place in the Universe

Autodesk vice president Brian Mathews talks with the NASA science communicator about the search for life on other planets and why it’s important

The Milky Way

The Milky Way Ate One of Its Neighbors 10 Billion Years Ago

Star data shows we gobbled up a galaxy called Gaia-Enceladus about 1/4 the size of the Milky Way, leaving behind telltale signs of the merger

We Haven't Been Zapped Out Of Existence Yet, So Other Dimensions Are Probably Super Tiny

In theory, other dimensions aren't big enough to form black holes and consume our universe or it would have happened already

Astronomers Find What May Be First Exomoon—And It's an Absolute Unit

Astronomers suspect that there's Neptune-sized celestial body trailing an exoplanet about 8,000 light years

The Green Bank Telescope pictured—and other radio telescopes like it—are listening for "technosignatures," or possible transmissions from intelligent life forms

In the Search for Aliens, We've Only Analyzed a Small Pool in the Cosmic Ocean

A new study estimates how much of outer space we've scoured for other life and finds we haven't exactly taken a deep dive

Explorers Will Face Dangerous Amounts of Radiation On Their Trip to Mars

New data from the Mars Trace Gas Orbiter shows just the flight there and back alone will expose astronauts to 60 percent the lifetime radiation dose

The Universe's Strongest Material is a Cosmic Lasagna

A new study suggests that the "nuclear pasta" found in neutron stars is 10 billion times stronger than steel

Artist's impression of galactic wind.

Astronomers Spot Galactic Wind From Early Universe

The ejection of molecular gas from a galaxy 12 billion light-years away may have kept an early galaxy from burning out too quickly

Jupiter's Magnetic Field Is Super Weird and Has Two South Poles

Analysis of data from the Juno probe shows the giant planet's field is much different from our own and suggests it has a dissolved core

An artist's rendering of a space elevator.

Japan Takes Tiny First Step Toward Space Elevator

Two mini-satellites will test elevator motion in space as part of research for an elevator between Earth and low orbit

Artist's rendering of COSMOS-AzTEC-1.

Monster Galaxy Churns Out 1,000 Times As Many Stars As Our Own

COSMOS-AzTEC-1 is almost 13 billion years old highly organized but unstable and could shed light on galaxy evolution

Andromeda

The Andromeda Galaxy Ate The Milky Way's Lost Sibling

New simulations show Andromeda absorbed the large galaxy M32p about 2 billion years ago

Jupiter Officially Has 12 New Moons

The new satellites are mostly tiny and include one oddball that is on a collision course with some of the 78 other moons orbiting the planet

Our Galaxy Is Really Greasy and Smells Like Moth Balls

A new study estimates that a quarter to half the carbon in interstellar space is in the form of greasy aliphatic carbon

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