Astronomy
Next Generation Gravitational Wave Observatories Could Detect 100-600 Solar Mass Black Hole Mergers
Humans are born wonderers. We're always wondering about the next valley over, the next horizon, what we'll understand next about…
Did Betelgeuse Consume a Smaller Star?
What's going on with Betelgeuse? In recent years it's generated a lot of headlines as its luminosity has shifted dramatically…
Three Planets Around this Sunlike Star are Doomed. Doomed!
According to new research we can start writing the eulogy for four exoplanets around a Sun-like star about 57 light…
New Telescopes to Study the Aftermath of the Big Bang
The NSF just awarded researchers at UChicago to start developing the CMB-S4 experiment, which will map the earliest moments of…
Satellites Make up to 80,000 Flashing Glints Per Hour. It's a Big Problem for Astronomers
Telescopes searching for brief flashes like supernovae and asteroids have to contend with a rising number of glints from satellites.…
JWST Searches for Planets in the Fomalhaut System
The Fomalhaut system is nearby in astronomical terms, and it's also one of the brightest stars in the night sky.…
An Exo-Neptune Beat the Odds and Kept its Atmosphere
As planet-hunting scientists find more and more planets, they've encountered some puzzles. One of them concerns the lack of Neptune-size…
What’s Inside the Carina Pillars? Massive Protostars and Newly-Forming Planets!
Star-forming nebulae are busy places. Unfortunately, clouds of gas and dust usually hide the action. To cut through the dust…
Civilizations are Probably Spreading Quickly Through the Universe
New research shows how intelligent life might expand in an ever-expanding Universe, which has serious implications for SETI and the…
Astronomers Want JWST to Study the Milky Way Core for Hundreds of Hours
To understand the Universe, we need to understand the extreme processes that shape it and drive its evolution. Things like…