The 7 Rocky Earth-Size TRAPPIST-1 Planets Have Remarkably Similar Densities
Precise measurements reveal that the exoplanets have remarkably similar densities, which provides clues about their composition. The red dwarf star PIST-1 is home to the…
Astrophysics
When Galaxies Collide: How Galactic Collisions Can Starve Massive Black Holes
It was previously thought that collisions between galaxies would necessarily add to the activity of the massive black holes at their centers. However, researchers have…
Puzzling Six-Exoplanet System Discovered With Resonant Rhythmic Movement
Using a combination of telescopes, including the Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory (ESO’s VLT), astronomers have revealed a system consisting of six…
Dissecting the Anatomy of Planetary Nebulae Using the Hubble Space Telescope
Images of two iconic planetary nebulae taken by the Hubble Space Telescope are revealing new information about how they develop their dramatic features. Researchers from…
Physicists Search for Axions – Hypothetical Dark Matter Particles – From Nearby Star Betelgeuse
Search for Axions From Nearby Star Betelgeuse Comes Up Empty Results significantly narrow the range of possible places to find the hypothetical dark matter particles….
Spacecraft Detect Giant Flare in Nearby Galaxy
Apart from black holes, magnetars may be the most extreme stars in the universe. With a diameter less than the length of Manhattan, they pack…
Wormholes May Be Lurking in the Universe – Here Are Proposed Ways of Finding Them
Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity profoundly changed our thinking about fundamental concepts in physics, such as space and time. But it also left us…
Massive Rotating Stars in the Pleiades Cluster
The Pleiades star cluster, a brilliant collection of several hundred stars visible in the winter sky near the constellation of Orion, has been admired by…
Magnetic Waves Explain Mystery of Sun’s Puzzling Outer Layer
A theory as to why the Sun’s outer atmosphere differs in its chemical make-up from its inner layers has been confirmed by direct observation for…
Astronomers Discover First Cloudless, Jupiter-Like Planet – “Smoking Gun Evidence”
This marks the second time astronomers have ever observed a cloud-free exoplanet. Astronomers at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian have detected the…
Testing Whether Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity Is Right With a Record-Breaking Laser Link
Scientists from the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) and The University of Western Australia (UWA) have set a world record for the most…
Solar System Formation in Two Steps – Explains Composition and Features of Planets, Asteroids and Meteorites
An international team of researchers from the University of Oxford, LMU Munich, ETH Zurich, BGI Bayreuth, and the University of Zurich discovered that a two-step…
Back to the Spectacular Firestorm of Star Birth at the Beginning of the Universe: Probing the First Galaxies With Webb
Deep-sky survey seeks to answer some of astronomy’s most pressing questions. When our universe was very young, it was a dark place filled with a…
Massive Stellar Triples Leading to Sequential Binary Black-Hole Mergers
The merger of two black holes in a binary system emits energy that can be detected on Earth by gravitational-wave observatories. The LIGO Scientific Collaboration…
New Measurement of the Hubble Constant – Rate of Expansion of the Universe – From Combined Observations of Neutron Stars
Combining signals from multiple observations of neutron stars has allowed researchers to better understand the properties of ultra-dense matter and constrain the Hubble constant, which…
The Cosmic Dust in Your Bones – NASA’s Webb Telescope Will Investigate the Intertwined Origins of Dust and Life
Dust may seem insignificant, but it plays a huge role in the universe, from the formation of stars and planets to facilitating the complex chemistry…
Using 100-Million-Year-Old Fossils and Gravitational-Wave Science to Predict Earth’s Future Climate
A group of international scientists, including an Australian astrophysicist, has used know-how from gravitational-wave astronomy (used to find black holes in space) to study ancient…
All 468 Stars in Milky Way Stellar Stream Theia 456 Are Related – “It’s Like Finding a Needle in a Haystack”
Examination of Theia 456 finds its nearly 500 stars were born at same time. The Milky Way houses 8,292 recently discovered stellar streams — all…