Astronomy
Gas and Dust Seen Swirling Around our Galaxy’s Supermassive Black Hole
A team using ALMA has observed gas and dust cloudlets near the super massive black hole at the center of…
How Hubble Unlocked the Universe
As engineers and technicians work diligently to diagnose and develop a solution (at best) or work around (at worst) the…
A Red Dwarf Blasts off a Superflare. Any Life on its Planets Would Have a Very Bad Day
Astronomers observed a red dwarf superflare much more powerful than anything our Sun can produce. Bad news for any habitable-zone…
How Mission Delays Hurt Young Astronomers
Back in Ye Olden Times, the job of astronomer was a pretty exclusive club. Either you needed to be so…
Surprising Discovery. Four Giant Planets Found Around a Very Young Star
What exactly is a "normal" solar system? If we thought we had some idea in the past, we definitely don't…
Even Ganymede is Showing Tectonic Activity. We’re Going to Need Another Icy Moon Orbiter
A new study shows that the surface of Ganymede was once a very tectonically active place, with evidence of slip-faulting…
348 Years Ago, a French Astronomer Monk Might have Witnessed the Collision Between a White and Brown Dwarf Star
A collision between a white dwarf and a brown dwarf created the object we call CK Vulpeculae. It was first…
First Exomoon Found! A Neptune-Sized Moon Orbiting a Jupiter-Sized Planet
A pair of astronomers combing through data from the Kepler spacecraft have discovered the first exomoon. The moon is in…
New Dwarf Planet Found in the Outskirts of the Solar System, Giving Astronomers More Ammunition to Search for Evidence of Planet 9
Astronomers have found a new dwarf planet way out beyond Pluto that never gets closer than 65 AUs to the…
Look at This Fascinating Variety of Planet-Forming Disks Around Other Stars
New images from the European Southern Observatory show the stunning variety of discs of gas and dust that surround young…