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Astronomy

An artistic rendering of a tidal disruption event, when a black hole rips apart and devours a star that got too close. These events help scientists find black holes, which don't emit light.

In a First, Astronomers May Have Spotted a Supermassive Black Hole That Wandered to the Edge of Its Galaxy

These giant celestial objects have mostly been identified at the centers of galaxies, where they’re known to reside. But a recently discovered one—found because of the light emitted while it snacked on a star—appears to be more than 30,000 light-years from its host galaxy’s heart

Betelgeuse, the inset image in the middle, is located in the constellation Orion, on the right. New images hint at a small companion star, shown in the inset image on the left, orbiting the supergiant star.

New Images Provide the Best Evidence Yet That Supergiant Star Betelgeuse Does, Indeed, Have a Long-Theorized Stellar Companion

The research team is mostly convinced by the data, but they want to capture additional observations in 2027 to confirm what they’ve found

A meteor photographed on August 3, 2025. 

Keep an Eye Out for Two Stellar Meteor Showers Peaking This Week, the Southern Delta Aquariids and the Alpha Capricornids

A nearly full moon may obscure the fireballs falling from the remains of two comets that passed through Earth’s orbit

An artist's impression of the CD-35 2722 star system

Is This Giant Celestial Body a Moon, a Planet or Something in Between? The Strange Object Calls Astronomical Labels Into Question

The newly found object, estimated to be roughly as massive as Jupiter, orbits a brown dwarf—a “failed star”—which in turn circles a small star. For now, researchers are calling the puzzling body an “exosatellite”

The upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is estimated to hit the moon on August 5.

A SpaceX Rocket Part Is Expected to Smack Into the Moon in August, Highlighting the Growing Problem of Space Junk

The unintended event also creates an opportunity for scientists and skywatchers to witness lunar impact dynamics in real time, although the debris will hit a sunlit portion of the moon from the perspective of Earth, making it hard to see

An artistic rendering of LHS 1140 b and its host star, with another smaller exoplanet orbiting nearby.

Could Life Exist on This Nearby World? In a First, Astronomers Find an Atmosphere on an Earth-Like Exoplanet in the Habitable Zone

While the celestial body seems to host three features that could make a livable environment—an atmosphere, a rocky composition and a temperature that could allow liquid water to sit on the surface—researchers have not currently detected any residents

An amateur astronomer thought he found an impact crater on Google Maps. Then, an expedition to the site confirmed that he was right.

Cool Finds

An Amateur Astronomer Using Google Maps Spotted a Strange Indentation. It Turned Out to Be a Meteorite Crater From 390 Million Years Ago

Scientists confirmed the astronomer’s suspicions with an expedition to the site in Quebec. The discovery offers a rare case of a reported new crater turning out to be real

A fragment of the Hillsborough meteorite

This Meteorite Crashed Into a New Jersey Home in 2024. Now, Scientists Say It Contains Some of the Building Blocks of Life

The Hillsborough meteorite belongs to a rare class of rocks from space, according to a new study. It holds amino acids and other organic compounds, as well as evidence of salty water

An illustration of the Beta Pictoris system features the newly discovered planet, Beta Pictoris d, at the right. Its orbit is wider than those of the two other known planets moving around its star.

Astronomers Noticed a Mysterious Spot Appearing in Telescope Images. It Turned Out to Be the Faintest Exoplanet Ever Imaged From Earth

The gas giant, called Beta Pictoris d, had been hiding in plain sight for more than a decade, until two independent teams verified its existence

The sugar was detected near the center of our Milky Way galaxy, which shines brightly with stars in this artificially colored image.

In a First, Astronomers Find Sugar in the Space Between Stars, Providing New Clues About the Origins of Life on Earth

Sugars are crucial components of RNA and DNA, the basis of all known organisms alive today. In a new study, the sugar erythrulose was detected in a gas- and dust-filled cloud near the center of our Milky Way galaxy

At the end of the calculation, researchers found two symbols they deciphered to mean “so says Sak Tahn Waax.”

Cool Finds

Meet Sak Tahn Waax, a Maya Math Whiz Who Lived More Than 1,000 Years Ago and Left Behind a ‘Really Elegant, Complex’ Formula

For the first time, archaeologists identified one of the culture’s famed Classic era mathematicians and astronomers

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This Giant Planet May Have Survived the Death of Its Star. The James Webb Space Telescope Just Found Its Atmosphere

New observations of WD 1856 b, a gas giant closely orbiting a white dwarf, offer a preview of what could happen to Jupiter and Saturn after the sun dies in about five billion years.

The Crimson Vortex and Sapphire Blossoms of Andromeda

See Ten Spectacular Images From This Year’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year Contest That Capture the Wonders of the Universe

The pictures, on the competition’s shortlist, reveal the remarkable celestial objects that lie above our heads, both in deep space and closer to home

Image of the constellation Lupus taken by the LSST camera

‘The Greatest Cosmic Movie Ever Made’: The World’s Largest Digital Camera Begins a Historic, Decade-Long Survey of the Night Sky

After a year of testing, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile has started capturing data as part of the much-anticipated Legacy Survey of Space and Time

The strawberry full moon rises behind the Empire State Building in New York City on June 29, 2026, as seen from Weehawken, New Jersey.

These 17 Stunning Photos of the Strawberry Moon Show Earth’s Natural Satellite in All Its Glory

The first full moon of the summer delivered dazzling visuals from across the globe. Its low position in the sky from the perspective of the Northern Hemisphere gave it a golden hue

The Perseverance rover inspects a Martian rock called Cheyava Falls using its Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals (SHERLOC) instrument.

Mars Rover Spots Complex Carbon on the Red Planet, Marking Yet Another Detection of a Building Block of Life

Along with other recent discoveries, the new finding from Perseverance boosts the case that Mars once hosted conditions that could support living things—but it isn’t a definitive sign of ancient organisms

Interstellar object 3I/ATLAS, imaged here with its broad coma of gas and dust, has captivated astronomers since its discovery on July 1, 2025.

A Rare Comet Made History as the Third Known Interstellar Object to Fly Through Our Solar System. Studies Are Now Revealing the Mysterious Conditions in Which It Formed

In the latest research, telescope observations of 3I/ATLAS examine its chemical structure and suggest that it took shape in a peripheral region of a relatively calm planetary system

The new image of the center of the Milky Way, which is packed with stars

See the Most Detailed Photo of the Milky Way’s Heart Ever Taken in Visible Light, Which Will Help Astronomers Hunt for Exoplanets

The European Space Agency’s Euclid telescope was built to study dark matter and dark energy, but for one day last year, it captured the densely packed stars brightening the center of our galaxy

Astronomers used galaxy cluster MACS J0416 (background), as a magnifying glass to view the extremely faint galaxy LAP1-B (inset), which is visualized here based on the James Webb Space Telescope's infrared data.

Astronomers Discovered a ‘Cosmic Fossil’ in the Making—the Most Chemically Primitive Galaxy Seen Yet—by Peering Back to the Edge of Time

The James Webb Space Telescope observed 13-billion-year-old light, using a closer galactic cluster like a magnifying glass. The work helps experts understand the universe’s earliest stars and mysterious ultra-faint dwarf galaxies

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is one of Colorado's International Dark Sky Parks.

Stay Up Late and Admire the Cosmos With This New ‘Stargazing Trail’ That Links Certified Dark Sky Destinations

The initiative debuts as Colorado gears up to celebrate the 150th anniversary of its statehood

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