Paul M. Sutter
When Clouds Collide, Destruction and Creation Go Hand-in-Hand
All stars are born from the collapse of clouds of dust and gas. But triggering star formation is a tricky…
Astronomers Find Out What Happens to Rocky Planets That Wander too Close to Their Stars
The massive Kepler survey found a treasure trove of exoplanets. But in all that wealth they found three anomalies: what…
Forget the Habitable Zone – We Need to Find the Computational Zone
Astronomers are currently searching for signs of life in the "habitable zones" of nearby stars, which is defined as the…
Physicists Discover that Gravity Can Create Light
Researchers have discovered that in the exotic conditions of the early universe, waves of gravity may have shaken space-time so…
Stars Can Eat Their Planets…and Spit Them Back Out Again
As tragic as it is, engulfment of a planetary object by its stellar parent is a common scenario throughout the…
Watch a Baby Planet Carve Out a Home for Itself
Astronomers have detected a small, compact source embedded in a gap in the disk surrounding a young star. They believe…
The Universe May Have Started with a Dark Big Bang
The Big Bang may have not been alone. The appearance of all the particles and radiation in the universe may…
How do Black Holes Make a Shadow?
It's notoriously difficult to take a picture of a black hole. But when they are surrounded by material we have…
Astronomers Go Hunting for Mysterious Q-balls
Our universe may feature large, macroscopic clumps of dark matter, known as q-balls. These q-balls would be absolutely invisible, but…
Astronomers Prepare for a Total View of Total Solar Eclipses
A team of astronomers have proposed a series of missions utilizing land, sea, and airborne observatories to continuously monitor as…