A ‘Super-Puff’ Planet Like No Other – As Big as Jupiter but 10 Times Lighter
The core mass of the giant exoplanet WASP-107b is much lower than what was thought necessary to build up the immense gas envelope surrounding giant…
Astronomy
U.S. Postal Service to Issue Sun Science Forever Stamps With 10 Spectacular Images From NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory
NASA’s images of the Sun’s dynamic and dazzling beauty have captivated the attention of millions. In 2021, the US Postal Service is showcasing the Sun’s…
Chandra X-ray Observatory Studies Extraordinary Magnetar [Video]
Astronomers recently found the fastest spinning and possibly the youngest magnetar yet. J1818.0-1607 is located about 21,000 light years away in the Milky Way galaxy….
Astronomers Discover Earliest Supermassive Black Hole and Quasar in the Universe – 1000x More Luminous Than the Milky Way
The most distant quasar known has been discovered. The quasar, observed just 670 million years after the Big Bang, is 1000 times more luminous than…
Secrets Behind Sunquakes May Lurk Beneath the Solar Surface
A secret behind the workings of sunquakes – seismic activity on the Sun during solar flares – might be hidden beneath the solar surface. These…
Dazzling Array of Complex Shapes Found in Planetary Nebulae Generated by Stellar Winds Interaction With Binary Companions
Interactions with binary companions shape the stellar winds blowing from elderly stars, generating the dazzling array of complex shapes found in the planetary nebulae they…
Astronomers Rewind the Clock to Calculate Age of Supernova Blast From Massive Star Explosion
Astronomers are winding back the clock on the expanding remains of a nearby, exploded star. By using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, they retraced the speedy…
Magnetic “Highway” Fuels Massive Ejection of Gas and Dust Out of the Cigar Galaxy
What’s fueling the massive ejection of gas and dust out of the Cigar galaxy, otherwise known as Messier 82? We know that thousands of stars…
HAWC+ Reveals Magnetic Chaos Hidden Within the Whirlpool Galaxy
Not all appears as it would seem in the Whirlpool galaxy. One of the best-studied spiral galaxies and a delight to amateur astronomers, Messier 51, as…
A Tale of Planetary Resurrection in a Triple-Star System With a Skewed Configuration
Years after its detection, astronomers have learned that a planet called KOI-5Ab orbits in a triple-star system with a skewed configuration. Shortly after NASA’s Kepler…
Hubble Ultra Deep Field: Looking Out Into Space, Looking Back Into Time [Video]
This six-minute visual exploration of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field showcases the characteristics and contents of this landmark observation, as well as its four-dimensional nature…
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory Spots First Lunar Transit of 2021
On January 13, 2021, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, or SDO, experienced its first lunar transit of the year when the Moon crossed its view of…
A Star Dying Soon After the Beginning of the Universe Could Be Disrupting Mobile Phone Reception Today
Rare Star’s Giant Gamma-Ray Burst GRB 204015A Captured Close to Our Home Galaxy Earth gets blasted by mild short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) most days. But…
New Horizons Spacecraft Data Shows There Are Far Fewer Galaxies in the Universe Than Previously Thought
New measurements of the sky’s blackness show galaxies only number in the hundreds of billions. How dark is the sky, and what does that tell…
Newton’s Principia: A Story of Lost and Stolen Books and Scrupulous Detective Work Across Continents
Hundreds of Copies of Newton’s Principia Found in New Census In a story of lost and stolen books and scrupulous detective work across continents, a…
Most Distant Quasar Discovered Sheds Light on How Supermassive Black Holes Grow
Fully formed just 670 million years after the Big Bang and powered by the earliest known supermassive black hole, the quasar provides insight into the…
Gravitational Wave Search Finds Tantalizing New Clue: Unexplained Fluctuations in Space-Time
An international team of scientists may be close to detecting faint ripples in space-time that fill the universe. Pairs of black holes billions of times…
The Universe Is Getting Hot, Hot, Hot – Temperature Has Increased 10-Fold Over the Last 10 Billion Years
The universe is getting hotter, a new study has found. The study, published in the Astrophysical Journal, probed the thermal history of the universe over the…