Evidence is Building that the Standard Model of the Expansion of the Universe Needs some new Ideas
Astronomers have measured the Hubble constant using astrophysical masers, and the result makes our understanding of cosmic expansion even worse.
Neutron Stars Could Have a Layer of Exotic Quark Matter Inside Them
Deep inside a neutron star, neutrons are packed so tightly that they can break apart into quarks. As a result neutron stars likely have a quark core.
Is the Concept of a Habitable Zone Too Wide?
Exoplanets are often considered potentially habitable if they could have liquid water. But the necessities of biology set the habitability bar a bit higher.
A New Test Confirms Dark Energy and the Expansion of the Universe
Our measurements of dark energy give contradictory results. A new study confirms dark energy, but suggests it is more strange than we thought.
Study of 200,000 Galaxies Reveals the Entire Universe Might Have Been Spinning in One Direction Early On
A new study finds evidence that the universe as a whole is rotating, and that could have big implications for cosmology.
Powerful Telescope Confirms There’s an Earth-Sized World Orbiting Proxima Centauri
There is an Earth-sized planet only four light years from Earth. Whether it has life is yet to be known.
Maybe a Fleet of Tiny Spacecraft Could Help Detect a Primordial Black Hole Planet 9
There are eight classical planets in our solar system, from speedy Mercury to distant Neptune. There are also numerous dwarf planets, such as Pluto and Ceres. While we continue to find more dwarf planets, there are some hints that another large planet could lurk far beyond Neptune. This Planet Nine is thought to be a …
Hundreds of New Gravitational Lenses Discovered to Help Study the Distant Universe
General relativity tells us that everything, even light, is affected by the mass of an object. When a beam of light passes near a large mass, its path is deflected. This shift in the direction of light is known as gravitational lensing, and it was one of the first confirmed effects of Einstein’s theory.
The Tunguska Explosion Could Have Been Caused By An Asteroid That Still Orbits The Sun
On a cool Summer morning in 1908, a fireball appeared over Northern Siberia. Eyewitnesses described a column of blue light that moved across the sky, followed by a tremendous explosion. The explosion leveled trees across more than 2,000 square kilometers. The explosion is consistent with a large meteor strike, but to this day no evidence …
High Energy Neutrinos Are Coming From Supermassive Black Holes
Some neutrinos are so energetic we don’t know how they are produced. But a clue lies in the heart of distant quasars.