The Aftermath of Binary Neutron Star Mergers: What Remains Behind?
On August 17th, 2017, LIGO detected gravitational waves from the merger of two neutron stars. This merger radiated energy across the electromagnetic spectrum, light that…
Astrophysics
NASA Selects Gamma-Ray Telescope To Probe Origins of Galactic Positrons, Chart Milky Way Evolution
NASA has selected a new space telescope proposal that will study the recent history of star birth, star death, and the formation of chemical elements…
Astronomers Use Planet-Hunting Satellite To See White Dwarf “Switch On and Off” for First Time
Astronomers have used a planet-hunting satellite to see a white dwarf abruptly switching on and off for the first time. The researchers led by Durham…
Latest Results From Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation Measurements
The universe was created about 13.8 billion years ago in a blaze of light: the big bang. Roughly 380,000 years later, after matter (mostly hydrogen)…
A Mysterious Gap Within the Solar System’s Protoplanetary Disk
Scientists find evidence the early solar system harbored a gap between its inner and outer regions. The cosmic boundary, perhaps caused by a young Jupiter…
Supernova Déjà-Vu: Astronomers Spot the Same Stellar Explosion Three Times – And Predict a Fourth Sighting in 16 Years
An enormous amount of gravity from a cluster of distant galaxies causes space to curve so much that light from them is bent and emanated…
Origin Unknown: Over a Thousand Powerful Cosmic Explosions Detected by FAST Telescope in 47 Days
An international research team led by Prof. LI Di and Dr. WANG Pei from National Astronomical Observatories of Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) caught an…
Hubble Finds Mysterious Replenishment of Water Vapor on Jupiter’s Moon Europa
Ice Sublimating Off the Surface Replenishes a Tenuous Envelope You would think that living half-a-billion miles from the Sun would be no place to call…
Unveiling the Fate of Ultra-Short Period Exoplanets
The last decades of “exoplanet hunting” – the search for planets orbiting stars other than the Sun – have allowed us to better understand the…
Exploring Common Envelope Outcomes of Binary Stellar Evolution
Binary neutron stars have been detected in the Milky Way as millisecond pulsars and twice outside the galaxy via gravitational-wave emission. Most of them have…
New Findings Suggest Venus Never Had Oceans, Conditions Needed for Life
Astrophysicists led by the UNIGE and the NCCR PlanetS have investigated the past of Venus to find out whether Earth’s sister planet once had oceans….
Planet Discovered That Survived Its Star’s Death: A Crystal Ball Into Our Solar System’s Future
Giant gas planet orbiting a dead star gives glimpse into the predicted aftermath of our sun’s demise. Astronomers have discovered the very first confirmed planetary…
NASA Searching for Free-Floating Planets Using Artificial Intelligence and Gravitational Microlensing
Exoplanet hunters have found thousands of planets, most orbiting close to their host stars, but relatively few alien worlds have been detected that float freely…
Strange Radio Signals From the Heart of the Milky Way Tantalize Scientists
A variable signal aligned to the direction of the galactic center is tantalizing scientists. Astronomers have discovered unusual signals coming from the direction of the…
Unexpected Radio Signals From Distant Stars Suggest Hidden Planets
Using the world’s most powerful radio antenna, scientists have discovered stars unexpectedly blasting out radio waves, possibly indicating the existence of hidden planets. The University…
Astrophysicists Explain Puzzling Results From Gravitational Wave Observatories
Astrophysicists Explain the Origin of Unusually Heavy Neutron Star Binaries Simulations of supernova explosions of massive stars paired with neutron stars can explain puzzling results…
Giant Cosmic Cotton Ball: A Dark Matter Deficient Galaxy
The galaxy NGC 1052-DF2 resides in a field of galaxies about sixty-five million light-years away. Its low mass, only about two hundred million solar-masses, makes…
Wandering Supermassive Black Holes Whizzing Through the Universe
Every massive galaxy is believed to host a supermassive black hole (SMBH) at its center. Its mass is correlated with the mass of the inner…