Brian Koberlein
Webb Sees a System That Just Finished Forming its Planets
When a young star begins forming, it's spinning rapidly, surrounded by a flattened disk that grows its future planets. Once…
Astronomers Can See the Impact Site Where an Asteroid Crashed Into a White Dwarf
When a star like the Sun reaches the end of its life, it becomes a red giant and blows away…
Cosmic Dust Could Have Helped Get Life Going on Earth
The early Earth didn't have many chemicals needed for life on its surface, but they were present in asteroids and…
We Could Snoop on Extraterrestrial Communications Networks
SETI researchers have directed their search toward interesting star systems where extraterrestrial civilizations could send signals toward Earth. According to…
Gravastars are an Alternative Theory to Black Holes. Here's What They'd Look Like
Astronomers continue to find more and more evidence of black holes, but there's an alternative theory that could explain the…
Even Eris and Makemake Could Have Geothermal Activity
Astronomers have found evidence of geothermal activity across the Solar System, from planets like Mars, icy moons like Europa and…
Euclid Begins its 6-Year Survey of the Dark Universe
ESA's Euclid mission was launched in July 2023 and has already sent home test images showing that its instruments are…
Another Clue Into the True Nature of Fast Radio Bursts
Astronomers have used two X-ray telescopes to study a neutron star and have discovered a link between it and mysterious…
Passing Stars Changed the Orbits of Planets in the Solar System
We're light-years away from the closest stars, but in the billions of years of history in the Milky Way, our…
Measuring Distances in the Universe With Fast Radio Bursts
Astronomers still aren't entirely sure what causes fast radio bursts, which can briefly release a galaxy's worth of energy. However,…