The Space Station is Getting Gigabit Internet
NASA is upgrading the ISS communication system with the first end-to-end laser relay system.
TESS Finds a Planet That Takes 482 Days to Orbit, the Widest it’s Seen so Far
We're rapidly learning that our Solar System, so familiar to us all, does not represent normal. A couple of decades…
JWST Gazes into the Dark Molecular Clouds at the Heart of the Milky Way
There's an unusual object near the Milky Way's heart that astronomers call "The Brick." It's a massive cloud of gas…
Humanity Will Out-Communicate all Life on Earth Within 90 Years
All organisms communicate information with their cells using signaling molecules. Add up all these communications, and it's the equivalent of…
A New Telescope Could Detect Decaying Dark Matter in the Early Universe
A gap in astronomical knowledge is Cosmic Dawn, a time when the first stars in the Universe formed, ending the…
Some Galaxies Contain Double Supermassive Black Holes
Blazars occupy an intriguing spot in the cosmic zoo. They're bright active galactic nuclei (AGN) that blast out cosmic rays,…
It's Going to Take More Than Early Dark Energy to Resolve the Hubble Tension
Astronomers have measured the Universe's expansion rate and found that various methods don't agree, and their error bars don't overlap.…
A Bizarre Pulsar Switches Between Two Brightness Modes. Astronomers Finally Figured Out Why.
Pulsars are the lighthouses of the universe. These rotating dead stars shoot twin jets of radiation from their poles, usually…
The Closest Supernova Seen in the Modern Era, Examined by JWST
In 1987, a supernova suddenly appeared in the Large Magellanic Cloud and was studied by astronomers worldwide. Although the detonating…
Is Humanity Ready to Realize the Dream of Interstellar Travel?
For generations, humans have dreamed, speculated, and theorized about the possibility of journeying to distant stars, finding habitable planets around…