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telescope

An artist’s rendering of Barnard’s Star, as seen from one of the newly discovered exoplanets orbiting it

Astronomers Find Four New Exoplanets Orbiting a Neighboring Star, the ‘White Whale’ of Planet Seekers

More than 60 years after the first debunked discovery of a planet orbiting Barnard’s Star, the closest single-star system to Earth, a pair of telescopes has revealed multiple rocky worlds around it

A mosaic of galaxies captured by Euclid as part of its first observations of the deep field areas

The First Big Data Drop From the Euclid Space Telescope Unlocks a ‘Treasure Trove’ of Insights on the Universe’s Mysteries

The European Space Agency’s “dark universe detective” discovered millions of new galaxies and offers potential clues about dark matter

This is the first image of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, captured by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) and released in 2022.

This Comprehensive Guide Will Answer the Questions You Have About Black Holes—and Spark Some New Ones

In a new book release, two scientists combine forces to explain the discoveries, developments and theories made in the realm of the densest objects in space

Don’t let the placid and bland surface fool you—Uranus is a singularly dynamic planet.

The Six Most Amazing Discoveries We’ve Made by Exploring Uranus

Its bland exterior belies a dynamic world full of surprises

A planet alignment photographed on June 23, 2022, featuring the moon as the brightest object

Seven Planets Will Gather in the Night Sky This Weekend. Here’s What to Expect During the Rare Alignment

While such a lineup is uncommon, the event might not look exactly how you’re imagining it

A digital optical module of the K3MNeT collaboration telescope, which identified the high-energy neutrino.

A Record-Breaking ‘Ghost Particle’ From Outer Space Made a Splash of Light in the Mediterranean

The neutrino was 30 times more energetic than any other previously observed particle of its kind. Scientists still don’t know exactly where it came from

Galaxy NGC 6505 and its surrounding Einstein ring, which represents light from a more distant galaxy behind it.

Cool Finds

Astronomers Discover Extremely Rare Einstein Ring in Early Euclid Telescope Data, Revealing Warped Space-Time

Such examples of gravitational lensing can help astronomers learn more about the properties of dark matter

The MeerKAT radio telescope, part of a 64-antenna array located in South Africa, was used in the recent detection of long-wavelength gravitational waves.

Astronomers Suspect Colliding Supermassive Black Holes Left the Universe Awash in Gravitational Waves

Radio telescopes tracking signals from spinning, ultra-dense stars point to ripples in the fabric of space

LEDA 1313424, nicknamed the Bullseye, appears next to the small blue dwarf galaxy on its immediate left.

Check Out NASA’s New Image of the Brilliant Bullseye Galaxy, the Aftermath of a Rare Cosmic Collision

After a blue dwarf galaxy shot through it like an arrow, the large Bullseye now has nine rings—six more than any other galaxy known to scientists

A section of the new photomosaic of the Andromeda Galaxy, which features 600 fields of view in total from the Hubble Space Telescope.

Check Out the Hubble Space Telescope’s Stunning New View of the Andromeda Galaxy

The full image includes some 2.5 billion pixels compiled from observations spanning more than 1,000 orbits around Earth

An artist’s concept of a white dwarf orbiting a supermassive black hole and shedding matter

Astronomers Found Strange, Accelerating X-Ray Pulses Coming From a Black Hole. They Might Be a Sign of an Orbiting White Dwarf

The dense stellar remnant would, if confirmed, be the closest known object to any black hole, according to preliminary research

A representation of the evolution of the universe over 13.77 billion years.

James Webb Telescope Confirms the Universe Is Expanding Faster Than We Thought—and Scientists Still Don’t Know Why

The findings suggest that astronomers’ widely accepted cosmology models might be missing something—meaning the longstanding mystery known as the “Hubble tension” continues

An artist's illustration shows the James Webb Space Telescope peering out into the solar system toward the asteroid belt.

Astronomers Detect the Smallest Main Belt Asteroids Ever Found by Repurposing a Technique for Exoplanet Discovery

An unusual approach to spotting tiny asteroids uses James Webb Space Telescope data in a boost for planetary defense research

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope recently imaged the Sombrero Galaxy with MIRI (its Mid-Infrared Instrument).

See the Sombrero Galaxy Like Never Before, as the James Webb Telescope Captures It in Unprecedented Detail

The mid-infrared light image shows astronomical features that can’t be seen with visible light cameras or in previous infrared views—and in this shot, the galaxy doesn’t look much like a Sombrero anymore

A stock illustration of an asteroid near Earth. Astronomers believe our "mini-moon" originated from the Arjuna asteroid belt.

Earth Bids Goodbye to Its ‘Mini-Moon’ as Astronomers Investigate Where Our Planet’s Asteroid Companion Came From

Preliminary research suggests asteroid 2024 PT5, which stuck around Earth for almost two months, has lunar origins

Stephan's Quintet includes four distant galaxies that are connected through gravity and one galaxy that is much closer to us but just happens to lie in the same direction in the sky.

Astronomers Spot a Galaxy Smashing Into Its Neighbors at 800 Times the Speed of a Fighter Jet

The collision in Stephan’s Quintet was observed by WEAVE, a new instrument on one of the world’s most powerful telescopes, in its first major scientific results

A photo of Neptune, taken by the Voyager 2 probe, with the colors rebalanced to represent its truest appearance

The Six Most Amazing Discoveries We’ve Made About Neptune

Despite the lack of a dedicated mission to the planet, scientists have learned plenty through ground observations and space telescopes

An area of the mosaic released by ESA’s Euclid space telescope on October 15, 2024, which is zoomed in 36 times compared to the large mosaic.

See the First Section of the Largest-Ever Cosmic Map, Revealed in Stunning Detail by the Euclid Space Telescope

The final 3D atlas of the sky will help scientists study dark matter and dark energy, which make up 96 percent of the universe but remain mysterious

An illustration of a nova similar to T Coronae Borealis shows a binary system of a white dwarf and a red giant orbiting each other.

Astronomers Are Watching for a Once-in-a-Lifetime Nova Explosion. When Will We See It?

A recurrent nova, known as the Blaze Star or T Coronae Borealis, is predicted to soon appear in the night sky. But the exact timing of the rare eruption remains unknown

An illustration of the newly detected exoplanet Barnard b, with the red dwarf Barnard's star in the background.

Astronomers Discover a Small Exoplanet That’s Our Cosmic Neighbor at Just Six Light-Years Away

Orbiting Barnard’s star, the nearest solo star to Earth, the world is too hot to be habitable—a scorching 257 degrees Fahrenheit

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