Astrophysics

Astronomers Find the Smallest Star Yet

The faint orb is just a smidgen bigger than Saturn and around 2,000 to 3,000 times dimmer than our own sun

Behold, ALMA's image of Betelgeuse

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

Auroras on Uranus caused by changes in its magnetosphere

Magnetic Field Around Uranus Are a Chaotic Mess

Using data from the Voyager 2 mission, researchers have modeled Uranus's off-kilter magnetosphere

A young padawan asks astrophysicist Erin Macdonald a question at a Future Con panel. This year, Smithsonian's Future Con took place as a special programming track within Awesome Con, leading to a number of serendipitous moments like this.

When Cutting-Edge Science Meets Science Fiction, It Packs the House

At Future Con, fans of sci-fi, fantasy and comics met the researchers and engineers who are bringing their stories to life

A simulation of the large-scale structure of the universe

We May Live in a Massive Cosmic Void

If the universe were a block of Swiss cheese, the Milky Way would sit within one of the cheesy holes

Artist’s conception of two merging black holes, spinning in a nonaligned fashion.

Scientists Hear Two Even More Ancient Black Holes Collide

At this point, detecting ripples in the fabric of space-time is practically commonplace

This brave little craft will face blinding temperatures near the sun.

NASA Hopes to "Touch the Sun" With a Newly Named Probe

The craft will travel within 4 million miles of the sun's surface

Magnetic field strength throughout the Milky Way in present day

Supercomputers Create Breathtaking Simulations of Spiral Galaxies

The simulations took months of modeling to complete—and the results can help scientists learn about the formation of galaxies

An artists rendering of how a solar sail might be powered by a radio beam from the surface of a planet

Are Fast Radio Bursts from Alien Spacecraft? It's Unlikely, but Possible

A new paper raises the (distant) possibility that the unusual high-energy bursts from the cosmos are from intergalactic ships

An infrared image of 47 Tucanae, a dense globular cluster of stars located roughly 16,000 light years from Earth. A new study has predicted that a black hole lies at its center.

How Astrophysicists Found a Black Hole Where No One Else Could

A new method could help scientists peer inside universe's densest star clusters to find undiscovered black holes

The bow-shaped wave on Venus

Scientists Spot Massive Wave in Venus' Atmosphere

The 6,200-mile long bow-shaped wrinkle may have been caused by gravity waves

Artists rendering of all the telescopes that helped track down FRB 121102

Mysterious Fast Radio Bursts Traced to Dwarf Galaxy in the Auriga Constellation

Knowing where they originate will help researchers understand what creates the mysterious high-energy signals

At the top of Dome A, an unmanned research station, is a smattering of antenna masts, small shipping containers, scientific equipment and a lot of footprints that take years for the snow and meager wind to cover up.

The Coldest, Driest, Most Remote Place on Earth Is the Best Place to Build a Radio Telescope

This remote Antarctic field station is an ice-covered arid desert, perfect for peering deep into space

Was the Speed of Light Even Faster in the Early Universe?

Physicists propose a way to test if light exceeded Einstein's constant just after the Big Bang

LIGO's founding fathers, from left: Rainer Weiss, Kip Thorne and Barry Barish. Not pictured: Ronald Drever

Meet the Team of Scientists Who Discovered Gravitational Waves

This year, the geniuses behind LIGO announced that they had finally found what Albert Einstein had predicted a century ago

Sylvester James Gates, a theoretical physicist and voice for faith and science.

Why Theoretical Physicist Sylvester James Gates Sees No Conflict Between Science and Religion

“I got used to the idea that questions had answers.”

Region R18 in the Carina Nebula

Stunning Images Capture the Carina Nebula's "Pillars of Destruction"

Caught by ESO's Very Large Telescope, the ten pillars of gas and dust are a hazy star nursery 7,500 light years away

Mario Livio

Astrophysicist Mario Livio on the Intersection of Art and Science

The scientist considers both a response to the vastness of the universe

An artist's impression of the Milky Way six million years ago, depicts an orange bubble at the galactic center and extending to a radius of about 20,000 light-years. Scientist think that outside of that bubble, a pervasive "fog" of million-degree gas might account for the galaxy's missing matter.

Solving the Mystery of the Milky Way’s Missing Mass

Smithsonian scientists have discovered a huge cloud of super hot gas expanding from the middle of our galaxy

Soon Everyone Will Be Able to Read NASA-Funded Research

Get ready for a lot more space science

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