young stars

A Star Became 1,000 Times Brighter, and Now Astronomers Know WhyA Star Became 1,000 Times Brighter, and Now Astronomers Know Why

A Star Became 1,000 Times Brighter, and Now Astronomers Know Why

Astronomers were surprised in 1937 when a star in a binary pair suddenly brightened by 1,000 times. The pair is…

10 months ago
Webb Joins the Hunt for ProtoplanetsWebb Joins the Hunt for Protoplanets

Webb Joins the Hunt for Protoplanets

We can't understand what we can't clearly see. That fact plagues scientists who study how planets form. Planet formation happens…

11 months ago
How We Get Planets from Clumping DustHow We Get Planets from Clumping Dust

How We Get Planets from Clumping Dust

Our gleaming Earth, brimming with liquid water and swarming with life, began as all rocky planets do: dust. Somehow, mere…

12 months ago
ALMA Takes Next-Level Images of a Protoplanetary DiskALMA Takes Next-Level Images of a Protoplanetary Disk

ALMA Takes Next-Level Images of a Protoplanetary Disk

The ESO's Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is perched high in the Chilean Andes. ALMA is made of 66 high-precision…

1 year ago
A Feline in the Heavens: The Smiling Cat NebulaA Feline in the Heavens: The Smiling Cat Nebula

A Feline in the Heavens: The Smiling Cat Nebula

A stellar nursery sounds like a placid place where baby stars go about their business undisturbed. But, of course, a…

2 years ago
What Does the Milky Way Look Like?What Does the Milky Way Look Like?

What Does the Milky Way Look Like?

A team from the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) has revealed a new picture of the Milky Way's morphology.

2 years ago
TESS Shows That Even Small Stars Can Host Giant PlanetsTESS Shows That Even Small Stars Can Host Giant Planets

TESS Shows That Even Small Stars Can Host Giant Planets

Can low-mass stars play host to giant, Jupiter-sized planets? Theories of planet formation suggest that it's highly unlikely. But a…

2 years ago
JWST Sees Furious Star Formation in a Stellar NurseryJWST Sees Furious Star Formation in a Stellar Nursery

JWST Sees Furious Star Formation in a Stellar Nursery

The powerful James Webb Space Telescope is a mighty technological tool. Astrophysicists first conceived it over 20 years ago, and…

2 years ago
Planets Don’t Wait for Their Star to Form FirstPlanets Don’t Wait for Their Star to Form First

Planets Don’t Wait for Their Star to Form First

It looks like we may have to update our theories on how stars and planets form in new solar systems.…

4 years ago
Another Collection of Newly Forming Planetary Systems. This Time from the Gemini Planet ImagerAnother Collection of Newly Forming Planetary Systems. This Time from the Gemini Planet Imager

Another Collection of Newly Forming Planetary Systems. This Time from the Gemini Planet Imager

Over the next decade, several very powerful telescopes will come online. Observing time on these 'scopes will be in high…

5 years ago