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Astrophysics

Mario Livio

Think Big

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

New Research

Soon Everyone Will Be Able to Read NASA-Funded Research

Get ready for a lot more space science

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

New Research

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."

Cool Finds

The Cosmos Sings in This Fusion of Astrophysics and Music

The Hubble Cantata 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.

New Research

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.

Trending Today

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.

Think Big

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.

Life in the Cosmos

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.

New Research

NASA Finally Caught This Crazy Space Weather in Action

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

Cool Finds

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

New Research

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.

Cool Finds

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

Trending Today

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

New Research

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

Cool Finds

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.

Switzerland

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.

New Research

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.

Trending Today

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.

Think Big

Astronomers Have Found the Brightest Supernova Yet

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

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