Astrophysics

Grab your sunglasses—all of those far-off stars, black holes and celestial bodies contribute to your killer tan.

Part of Your Suntan Comes From Photons That Are Billions of Years Old

Thank bodies from beyond the galaxy for a bit of that golden glow

An image of a nebula used in "The Hubble Cantata."

The Cosmos Sings in This Fusion of Astrophysics and Music

<i>The Hubble Cantata</i> brings the stars down to earth

This spectacular image of the Orion Nebula star-formation region was obtained from multiple exposures using the HAWK-I infrared camera on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile.

Breathtaking New Images Capture Failed Stars and Planet-Sized Objects Inside the Orion Nebula

It’s the deepest look into the nebula ever seen before

An artist's rendition of merging black holes that produce gravitational waves.

Gravitational Waves Strike Twice

Scientists announce the second detection of gravitational waves

In this artist's conception, a carbon planet orbits a sunlike star in the early universe.

Diamond Planets Might Have Hosted Earliest Life

A new study pushes back the earliest date that extraterrestrial life might, maybe, could appear; if so, it'd be on planets made of diamond

An artist’s conception of the LISA Pathfinder spacecraft in orbit at Lagrange Point 1.

A Spacecraft Just Measured Movement Less Than the Width of an Atom

The successful results pave the way for a future mission that could detect low-frequency gravity waves

An illustration of the four spacecraft that detected a magnetic reconnection.

NASA Finally Caught This Crazy Space Weather in Action

The interactions between the Earth and the Sun’s magnetic fields drive explosive space weather

Astronomers Deploy a Laser System for a Clearer View of the Skies

A new four-laser system at the Paranal Observatory will help the massive telescope compensate for atmospheric turbulence

The remnant of SN 1006

Ancient Arabic Text Shines Light on Massive Supernova

A new look at records from an ancient astronomer yields insights into one of the brighest supernovas ever seen from Earth

A visualization of the Varying Length Model of the cosmic web.

Take in the Beauty of This Gravity Web That Connects Galaxies Across the Universe

A new simulation visualizes how distant galaxies might be connected

Artist's rendering of the Alpha Centauri system

Stephen Hawking and Billionaire Announce Project to Send Tiny Probes to Nearest Star System

Yuri Milner is investing 100 million dollars in research to develop a swarm of tiny probes for a mission to Alpha Centauri

Galaxy NGC 1600

Supermassive Black Holes May Be More Common Than Previously Thought

Astronomers have found a huge black hole in a "cosmic backwater," opening the possiblity there could be many more in the universe

An illustration of galaxy superclusters and cosmic voids, similar to the structure of the BOSS Great Wall

Meet the BOSS, the Largest Structure in the Universe (So Far)

Astronomers recently discovered a wall of galaxies 1 billion light years across, larger than anything else yet identified in the cosmos

This image was taken inside the Large Hadron Collider just a few months before its launch in 2008.

Inside the Atom Smasher at CERN

What you can see on a tour of the largest particle collider in the world

A supercomputer simulation shows the gravitational waves produced as two black holes merge.

After a Century of Searching, We Finally Detected Gravitational Waves

Two merging black holes sent out a signal 1.3 billion years ago that now confirms a key prediction of Einstein's relativity

An illustration of how gravitational waves ripple through the fabric of space-time.

Five Things to Know About Gravitational Waves

The internet is abuzz with rumors of a big announcement—here are a few things you should know to decipher the news

An illustration shows the record-breaking supernova ASASSN-15lh as it would appear from an exoplanet about 10,000 light-years away.

Astronomers Have Found the Brightest Supernova Yet

The powerful blast is so weird that it could be a whole new kind of star explosion

What goes into a black hole never comes out. Or does it?

Stephen Hawking Thinks We Can Solve a Major Black Hole Mystery With Hair

No toupees needed, though. The "hairs" in question are minute changes in spacetime at the fringes of black holes

The LISA Pathfinder probe on display in September, 2015.

A Space-Based Physics Lab Could Help Scientists Study How Gravity Warps Spacetime

The LISA Pathfinder Probe could help reveal the ripples caused by black holes and supernovae

These galaxies are smiling at you thanks to general relativity.

Seven Simple Ways We Know Einstein Was Right (For Now)

For the past 100 years, these experiments have offered continued evidence that general relativity is our best description of gravity

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