VY Canis Majoris is “Like Betelgeuse on Steroids”
The disappearance of a star can take many forms. It could go supernova. It could turn into a black hole. …
The Most Recent Volcanic Activity on the Moon? Just 100 Million Years ago
Regions of the Moon known as irregular mare patches - formed by magma cooling from a volcanic eruption - have…
Astronomers Track a Neutrino Back to the Source. Where a Black Hole Tore Apart a Star
Neutrinos are notoriously finicky particles. Hundreds of trillions pass through a person’s body every second, yet they hardly seem to…
New Supercomputer Simulations Will Help pin Down Inflation
In the very earliest moments of the big bang, the universe experienced a period of rapid expansion known as inflation.…
Simulations of the Universe are Getting Better and Better at Matching Reality
How can you possibly use simulations to reconstruct the history of the entire universe using only a small sample of…
Gliese 486b is a Hellish World With Temperatures Above 700 Kelvin
The CARMENES consortium recently discovered a super-Earth just 21 light-years away that will be the perfect test case for exoplanets…
Dust in the Chixalub Crater Makes the Compelling Case That an Asteroid Wiped out the Dinosaurs 65 Million Years ago
For decades scientists have believed that an asteroid impact event ended the era of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.…
Space Missions are Building Up a Detailed Map of the Sun’s Magnetic Field
Solar physicists have been having a field day of late. A variety of missions have been staring at the sun…
NASA is Considering a Radio Telescope on the Far Side of the Moon
The University of Colorado Boulder and Lunar Resources Inc. have just won NASA funding to study the possibility of building…
A Single Dust Devil on Mars
Mars has a great combination of dust and wind. The result of that combination is often dust devils. The HiRISE…