binary stars
Massive Binary Stars Huddle Up Surprisingly Quickly
Dancing is a favorite pastime of many couples. Swinging around a dance floor, using the laws of physics to twirl…
Strange Green Star is the Result of a Merger Between two White Dwarfs
Chandrasekhar found there is an upper limit for the mass of a white dwarf, but some white dwarfs can break…
Astronomers Measure a 1-billion Tesla Magnetic Field on the Surface of a Neutron Star
We recently observed the strongest magnetic field ever recorded in the Universe. The record-breaking field was discovered at the surface…
This is a Binary Star in the Process of Formation
About 460 light years away lies the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex. It's a molecular cloud—an active star-forming region—and it's one…
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…
Jupiter is so Big that our Solar System almost had two Suns
About half of all the star systems in the galaxy are made of pairs or triplets of stars. Our solar…
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…
The Most Massive Neutron Star has been Found. It’s ALMOST the Most Massive Neutron Star That’s Even Possible
Neutron stars are the end-state of massive stars that have spent their fuel and exploded as supernovae. There's an upper…
There are Strange Objects Near the Center of the Galaxy. They Look Like Gas, but Behave Like Stars
Using 12 years of data from the W.M. Keck Observatory, a team of astronomers discovered mystery objects near the center…
Weekly Space Hangout – February 3, 2017: Meredith Rawls & the LSST
Host: Fraser Cain (@fcain) Special Guest: Meredith Rawls Meredith is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Astronomy at the…