Stars
At the Heart of the Milky Way, Stars Come Close to Each Other All the Time
A new study provides new estimates on how often stars near the center of our galaxy experience "close encounters," which…
Much of the Lithium Here on Earth Came from Exploding White Dwarf Stars
The Big Bang produced the Universe's hydrogen, helium, and a little lithium. Since then, it's been up to stars (for…
Huge Stars Can Destroy Nearby Planetary Disks
Westerlund 2 is a star cluster about 20,000 light years away. It's young—only about one or two million years old—and…
A New Kind of Supernova Explosion has been Discovered: Fast Blue Optical Transients
For the child inside all of us space-enthusiasts, there might be nothing better than discovering a new type of explosion.…
TESS is Also Helping Astronomers Study Bizarre Pulsating Stars
NASA's TESS, or Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite has one main job: finding exoplanets. But it's also helping astronomers study a…
Was Betelgeuse Formed by Merging Stars?
Modern humans—or Homo Sapiens—have only been around for about 250,000 years. That's only the blink of an eye in cosmological…
Astronomers Watch a Nova Go From Start to Finish for the First Time
A nova is a dramatic episode in the life of a binary pair of stars. It's an explosion of bright…
Betelgeuse Is Bright Again
Everyone's favorite red supergiant star is bright again. The American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) has been tracking Betelgeuse…
Astronomers are hoping to see the very first stars and galaxies in the Universe
Sometimes it's easy being an astronomer. When your celestial target is something simple and bright, the game can be pretty…
It Looks Like Betelgeuse was Dimming Because it was Dusty After All
It’s been said that dust built the Universe. And it turns out dust may be the culprit for building up…