Unlocking the Mysterious Missing Links of Black Hole Astronomy
A deeper understanding of black holes could revolutionize our understanding of physics, but their enigmatic nature makes them difficult to observe. Because the theory of…
Astronomy
Strange Radio-Emitting Neutron Star Discovered in Stellar Graveyard
An international team of astronomers has discovered a strange radio-emitting neutron star, which rotates extremely slowly, completing one rotation every 76 seconds. The team of…
All-or-Nothing: Tau Herculids Could Be the Most Powerful Meteor Storm in Generations
If skies are clear, be sure to watch for a potential tau Herculid meteor outburst early Tuesday morning. With a little cosmic luck, we could…
Hubble Captures Magnificent Grand Spiral Galaxy Face-On
This image from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope features the Grand Design Spiral, NGC 3631, located approximately 53 million light-years away in the direction of the…
AI Reveals Unsuspected Connections Hidden in the Complex Math Underlying Search for Exoplanets
Machine learning algorithm points to problems in mathematical theory for interpreting microlenses. Artificial intelligence (AI) systems trained on real astronomical observations now surpass astronomers in…
Fragments of a Dying Comet Might Put On a Spectacular Show – Or Pass By Without a Trace
As Earth orbits the Sun, it plows through dust and debris left behind by comets and asteroids. That debris gives birth to meteor showers –…
Hubble Space Telescope Goes Galactic Birdwatching
This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the barred spiral galaxy NGC 7496, which lies over 24 million light-years away from Earth in…
Spectacular New Tau Herculids Meteor Shower May Light Up the Skies Over North America
Astronomers are excited about the possibility of a new meteor shower on May 30-31, the tau Herculid shower, forecast to peak on the night of…
Webb Space Telescope’s Quest for Primeval Black Holes
The Webb Space Telescope team continues to work on commissioning the science instruments, the final step before starting science operations in the summer. We recently…
Astronomy & Astrophysics 101: Measuring the Age and Size of the Universe
How do we measure the age and size of the universe? The search for Cepheids The top-ranked scientific justification for building the Hubble Space Telescope…
A Strange Surging Glow in a Distant Galaxy Could Change the Way We Look at Black Holes
Something weird is going on in the galaxy known as 1ES 1927+654: In late 2017, and for reasons that scientists couldn’t explain, the supermassive black…
Hubble Captures a Turbulent Galactic Gravitational Dance
This NASA Hubble Space Telescope observation finds the large spiral galaxy, NGC 3227, engaged in a turbulent gravitational dance with its companion, the elliptical galaxy…
Don’t Miss: Prime Viewing of Mars-Jupiter Conjunction
Most stargazers will have a prime viewing opportunity to observe the planets Jupiter and Mars draw incredibly close in the predawn sky on the nights…
Astronomy & Astrophysics 101: Dark Energy
What Is Dark Energy? Dark energy is the name given to the as yet unknown energy source that is causing our Universe’s expansion to accelerate….
Webb Space Telescope To Provide Details of Two Intriguing “Super-Earths” in the Milky Way
Astronomers will train Webb’s high-precision spectrographs on two intriguing rocky exoplanets. Imagine if Earth were much, much closer to the Sun. So close that an…
Astronomy & Astrophysics 101: Comet
What Is a Comet? A comet is an icy, rocky mass that has passed close by the Sun within our Solar System, and has thus…
Astronomers Discover Hidden Trove of Massive Black Holes – “We All Got Nervous”
Newfound black holes in dwarf galaxies shed light on the origin of our galaxy’s supermassive black hole. A team of researchers led by astronomers in…
Hubble Space Telescope Peers Through Giant Elliptical Galaxy’s Layers
This new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image captures the central region of the enormous elliptical galaxy NGC 474. Located around 100 million light-years from Earth,…
