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Astronomy

The dwarf planet Ceres, the only dwarf planet in the main asteroid belt, might have once been hospitable for life, according to a recent study.

Did the Dwarf Planet Ceres Once Host Life? Astronomers Suggest Chemical Energy Could Have Fueled Microbes Long Ago

Though no direct evidence of life has been found, models suggest Ceres had hot water shooting into its underground oceans billions of years ago, offering potentially hospitable conditions

A solar flare with the Earth for scale.

Solar Flares May Be Way Hotter Than Researchers Previously Thought

Scientists recalculated the temperature of solar flares using modern data and new models

The James Webb Space Telescope, with data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, together captured the dusty core of the Butterfly Nebula.

See the Stunning Butterfly Nebula in a New Image From the James Webb Space Telescope

The observations offer an unprecedented look at the center of the nebula, which is shrouded in a band of dust

An artist's depiction of the newly discovered "quadruple system" within the Milky Way. In it, two brown dwarfs orbit each other at the right, and together, they orbit a pair of red dwarf stars at the left.

Astronomers Spot a Rare Quadruple Star System in the Milky Way, Shedding Light on Mysterious Brown Dwarfs

The discovery can help astronomers better understand these little-known objects nicknamed “failed stars”

The Hubble Space Telescope captured this image of 3I/ATLAS with its Wide Field Camera 3.

Telescopes Reveal Surprising Chemistry of a Rare Interstellar Object Passing Through Our Solar System

Called 3I/ATLAS, the object is only the third of its kind known to astronomers, and it’s likely been heading our way for billions of years, carrying pristine material from another star system

An artist's rendition of CHIME and its Outriggers across North America localizing the radio burst.

Astronomers Spot the Brightest Fast Radio Burst Ever Detected and Observe Stars Around Its Origin for the First Time

Using two telescopes, scientists were able to pinpoint the location of the fleeting phenomenon with surprising accuracy

An illustration of SN2021yfj enveloped in a layer of heavy elements during its supernova explosion

A Unique Supernova ‘Dazzled’ Astronomers and Revealed the Inner Layers of Stars

Researchers observed a supernova in progress that showed the onion-like structure of elements in stars, and the explosion may belong to a class of its own

New moons are only visible during solar eclipses. This visualization of a tiny sliver, for example, is technically a crescent moon.

What Is a Black Moon? The Unusual Sky Phenomenon Will Occur Later This Month, but Don’t Expect to See It

A seasonal black moon, to appear on August 22 or 23, is the third of four new moons within an astronomical season

Fragments of the McDonough Meteorite, which fell through the roof of a home in Georgia in June

A Meteorite Tore Through a Georgia Home’s Roof. It Turns Out the Space Rock Is Older Than Our Planet

A planetary geologist finds that the meteorite, which fell in June, came from the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter

This year, a nearly full moon will make observing the Perseids harder. Here, a meteor is seen on August 3, 2025, in Spruce Knob, West Virginia.

The Popular Perseid Meteor Shower Will Peak This Week—Here’s How to Watch, Despite a Bright Moon

A waning gibbous moon will impact viewing the shooting stars, but the famous meteor shower is still worth observing

The Hubble Space Telescope captured this image of comet 3I/ATLAS on July 21. 

See the Sharpest Image Yet of an Interstellar Comet Passing Through the Solar System

Data from the Hubble Space Telescope unveils new information about this mysterious visitor

The Perseid meteor shower in 2023. Although the prolific shower is not currently at its peak, astronomers recommend catching a glimpse before the moon gets too bright.

How to Watch This Week’s Stunning Dual Meteor Shower and More Upcoming Celestial Events

You can catch meteor showers and a special lunar display early this week, and keep an eye out for the popular Perseids

Scientists observed the faint companion star, shown in blue, by using a speckle imager mounted on the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii to capture several short exposures.

Astronomers Say They’ve Finally Spotted Betelgeuse’s Companion Star, Long Predicted to Exist but Never Seen

The discovery, if confirmed, could explain Betelgeuse’s mysterious six-year oscillations in brightness

The trans-Neptunian object nicknamed Ammonite moves across the sky over several hours in May 2023. Its diameter is estimated to be between about 135 and 235 miles.

Cool Finds

Astronomers Discover ‘Ammonite,’ a Mysterious Distant Object That Could Shed Light on Our Solar System’s History

The celestial body’s unusual orbit “implies that something extraordinary occurred” in the early days of the solar system—and throws a wrench in the Planet Nine idea

An image from the ALMA telescope array in Chile shows jets of silicon monoxide blowing away from the young star HOPS-315. The blue jet is moving towards Earth, and the red jet is moving away from us.

For the First Time, Astronomers Capture ‘Smoking Gun’ of Early Solar System Formation

Telescopes detected the first stages of hot minerals condensing from gas around a young star called HOPS-315

The meteorites could open up a new avenue to understand Mercury, pictured, which is notoriously hard to study due to its proximity to the sun.

Scientists Have Never Confirmed a Meteorite From Mercury. Could These Space Rocks From the Desert Be the First?

Two meteorites found in the Sahara show tantalizing similarities to the innermost planet, and while researchers say they are likely not direct samples, “one cannot rule out” the idea

Researchers announced they have discovered the most massive black hole merger by detecting gravitational waves.

Physicists Detect the Most Massive Black Hole Merger Ever Observed by Studying Gravitational Waves

A short-lived ripple in space-time revealed that two black holes merged into a giant black hole with the mass of 225 suns

Concentric star trails glow behind a single dragon's blood tree, an otherworldly species native to Yemen's Socotra island.

Check Out Ten Spectacular Space Images From the Astronomy Photographer of the Year Contest

The annual competition for professional and amateur astrophotographers released its shortlisted images, which capture the beauty of the cosmos seen from Earth

The comet 3I/ATLAS moves against a backdrop of stars. The ATLAS survey telescope in Rio Hurtado, Chile, was the first to report that the object came from interstellar space.

A Rare Interstellar Object Is Blazing Through Our Solar System, Marking Only the Third Cosmic Visitor on Record

The comet follows just two other deep space objects documented by astronomers in 2017 and 2019

An illustration of a red giant star and a white dwarf orbiting each other in a recurrent nova explosion.

Rare Appearance of Two Novas at Once Illuminates the Southern Sky. Here’s How to Get a Chance to See It

The “new stars” are best seen from the Southern Hemisphere, but people have spotted them from the United States by looking near the southern horizon

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