Astronomers

Astronomers Spot One of the Oldest Galaxies in the Universe

The dusty, star-forming galaxy is 12.8 billion years old

November 8, 2017

New Research

Jupiter’s Auroras Are Surprisingly Out of Sync

X-ray bursts from the poles are expected to line up, but the south is regular while the north produces haphazard bursts

November 2, 2017

Trending Today

Look Up: The Orionid Meteor Shower Will Streak Through Skies This Weekend

Bits of Halley’s Comet are raining down on Earth, and the show will peak in the wee hours of Saturday morning

October 20, 2017

Scientists Spot the Spark From Ancient Collision of Neutron Stars

The chirp and flash from the event offers clues to the origin of Earth’s precious metals

October 16, 2017

Cool Finds

World’s Largest Radio Telescope Spies Its First Pulsars

Still in its trial run, the China’s FAST radio telescope has already identified two new pulsars and perhaps a dozen more

October 12, 2017

How a 1604 Supernova Presented a Challenge to Astronomers

The supernova provided proof to Galileo, Kepler and others that the heavens were not fixed–although they were wrong about what caused the bright star

October 9, 2017

Trending Today

Three Scientists Behind the Detection of Gravitational Waves Awarded Nobel Prize in Physics

The trio is the leading force behind the massive pair of detectors that can measures ripples in the fabric of space-time smaller than the width of a proton

October 3, 2017

Cool Finds

Scientists Discover One Last Image From the Rosetta Mission

The probe sent partial data for the photo before it crash landed on a comet September 30, 2016

October 2, 2017

New Research

Hubble Spots Strange Pair of Space Rocks in the Night Sky

The duo, dubbed 288P, may help scientists better understand asteroid evolution

September 25, 2017

Why Everyone Went on a Wild Goose Chase Looking for the Planet Vulcan

The idea of a ninth planet in the Solar System would resolve a mathematical conundrum about Mercury–only problem is, it wasn’t there

September 12, 2017

Cool Finds

2.8 Million Stars Sparkle in This Incredible Image of the Milky Way

The Gaia star surveyor captured a densely packed area near the center of the galaxy

September 6, 2017

New Research

The Secret Lives of Cannibal Stars Revealed, Thanks to 15th Century Korean Astronomers

For the first time ever, astrophysicists observe the entire life cycle of a binary star system

August 31, 2017

The Universe Needs You: To Help in the Hunt for Planet 9

How one citizen science endeavor is using the Internet to democratize the search for distant worlds

August 28, 2017

Eclipse 2017: In Pursuit of Totality

You’ve made plans, packed bags, obtained glasses. Here’s what to read to fully appreciate this event in all its glory

August 18, 2017

This New Mexico Petroglyph Might Reveal an Ancient Solar Eclipse

In 1097, a Pueblo artist may have etched a rare celestial event into the rock for all of posterity

August 17, 2017

Cool Finds

New Storm as Big as Earth Is Stirring Up Neptune’s Atmosphere

Astronomers aren’t sure if the 5,600-mile-wide storm will peter out or if a deep vortex will keep it churning

August 8, 2017

A Brief History of Eclipse Chasers

They also go by umbraphiles, coronaphiles, eclipsoholics and ecliptomaniacs

August 3, 2017

Women Who Shaped History

When Girls Studied Planets and the Skies Had No Limits

Maria Mitchell, America’s first female astronomer, flourished at a time when both sexes “swept the sky”

July 21, 2017

Art Meets Science

Is Jupiter the “Star” in Lord Byron’s Famous Poem?

According to astronomer Donald Olson, the brilliant star described in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage is actually a planet

July 3, 2017

New Research

Detailed Images of a Distant Star Hold Clues to Its Ultimate Fate

Sitting some 640 light years from our planet, the star Betelgeuse is on the verge of supernova

June 28, 2017