New Idea Helps Explain Why Galaxies Have The Shapes They Do
Dark matter may scatter against each other only when they hit the right energy, say researchers in Japan, Germany, and Austria in a new study….
Kavli Institute
Scientists Discover Why Some Supernova Explosions Produce More Manganese and Nickel
Researchers have found white dwarf stars with masses close to the maximum stable mass (called the Chandrasekhar mass) are likely to produce large amounts of…
Radio Echoes of a Black Hole Feeding on a Star Detected
Signals suggest a black hole emits a jet of energy proportional to the stellar material it gobbles up. On Nov. 11, 2014, a global network…
“Living Dead” Star Is Like Nothing Ever Seen Before
Ordinarily, a supernova marks the death of a mammoth star, which then briefly outshines an entire galaxy before fading away. Not so for a baffling…
ALMA Opens a New Window to the Distant Universe, Reveals ‘Whirlpool’ Movement
Astronomers have looked back to a time soon after the Big Bang, and have discovered swirling gas in some of the earliest galaxies to have…
Cornell Scientists Take First Step Toward Cell-Sized Robots
An electricity-conducting, environment-sensing, shape-changing machine the size of a human cell? Is that even possible? Cornell physicists Paul McEuen and Itai Cohen not only say…
Violent Helium Reaction Triggers Supernova Explosion
A new study reveals evidence that the brightest stellar explosions in our universe could be triggered by the helium nuclear explosion at the surface of…
Hubble Reveals Globular Clusters Gain Star-Making Fuel from Outside the Cluster Itself
Using Hubble data, a team of astronomers has for the first time found young populations of stars within globular clusters that have apparently developed courtesy…
Astronomers Discover Jupiter-Like Planet 51 Eridani b
Using the Gemini Planet Imager, astronomers have discovered a young Jupiter-like planet that is 100 light-years away. One of the best ways to learn how…
Understanding the Gravitational Evolution of Dark Matter Halos
A newly published study allows the distribution of dark matter halos to be more accurately predicted by using a detailed comparison between theory and simulations….
New Study Shows Brain stimulation Counteracts Dangerous Side Effect of Seizures
In a newly published study, neurologists from Yale University have reawakened rats after seizures by stimulating parts of the brain involved in conscious awareness. The…
Uniform Heavy Element Distribution Points to Early Cosmic ‘Seeding’
Using Suzaku’s X-ray telescopes to make 84 observations of the Perseus Cluster, researchers discovered that most of the universe’s heavy elements, including the iron central…
Astronomers Measure the Density of Dark Matter in Galaxy Clusters
In a new study, astronomers detail their measurements of the density of dark matter in galaxy clusters, finding that the density of dark matter decreases…
New Planck Data Challenges Our Understanding of the Universe
New data from Europe’s Planck satellite challenges our understanding of the Universe, suggesting that Universe may be different on scales larger than those we can…
PS1-10afx Supernova Magnified by Gravitational Lensing
Researchers from the Kavli IPMU have used gravitational lensing to identify a distant Type Ia supernova, named PS1-10afx, that exploded over 9 billion years ago….
Changes to Algorithm Improve Analysis of the Evolution of Quasars
By improving an algorithm that is important for studying quasars, astrophysicists determined the radio and optical luminosity evolutions for a set of more than 5000…
Gravity Alone Does Not Explain the Distribution of Stars in Crowded Clusters
Findings from a new study suggest that pull of gravity doesn’t fully explain the distribution of stars in crowded clusters and provides new insights into…