Carolyn Collins Petersen
A Star Threw Off a Sun’s Worth of Material. And Then it Exploded!
What happens just before a massive star explodes as a supernova? To figure that out, astronomers need to look at…
New Horizons is Funded Through the Decade. Enough to Explore Another Kuiper Belt Object
The ongoing saga of the New Horizons mission—will it get truncated and its science team disbanded?—may have some resolution. Dr.…
The Race to Find the Farthest Galaxy Continues
The very early Universe was a busy place, particularly when stars and galaxies began to form. Astronomers eagerly search for…
A Collision Between Gigantic Galaxy Clusters. Too Big, Too Early
Just when cosmologists have a workable theory for when and how galaxy collisions happened in the early Universe, something challenges…
A New Technique Confirms the Universe is 69% Dark Energy, 31% Matter (Mostly Dark)
How much "stuff" is there in the Universe? You'd think it would be easy to figure out. But, it's not.…
If Astronomers See These Chemicals in a Planet’s Atmosphere, There’s Likely an Advanced Civilization There
In an age of ever-growing numbers of exoplanets circling other stars, it's natural that astronomers search for signatures of advanced…
Quasars Have Always Had Dark Matter Halos
When you look at most galaxies in the Universe, you're looking at the homes of supermassive black holes. It now…
Astronomers Observe Blobs of Dark Matter Down to a Scale of 30,000 Light-Years Across
Dark matter remains mysterious and… well… dark. While we don't yet have a definite idea of what this cosmic "stuff"…
Mars Doesn’t Have as Many Minerals as Earth
Earth and Mars are very much alike, but also very different. Among other things, scientists find that Earth is much…
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,…