Sometimes discovery does not come from pointing a new instrument at the heavens, but from listening more carefully to what…
Category: Astronomy
Scientists Finally Know Why the Moon Has Two Completely Different Faces
Every night, the moon rises with the same familiar face turned toward Earth. Its dark volcanic plains form shapes people…
This Ordinary Point of Light Was Actually Hiding a Massive Cosmic Secret
At first glance, LAMOST J065816.72+094343.1 looked like just another faint point of light cataloged in a massive sky survey. Identified…
Scientists Thought This Black Hole Was Exploding but It’s Actually Doing the Opposite
Thirteen million light-years away, the Circinus galaxy appears calm and unassuming. But deep in its core, hidden behind dense curtains…
Most Planets in Our Galaxy Might Be Trapped in a Permanent Microbe Phase
For decades, the search for life beyond Earth has been fueled by a simple, hopeful idea. Look for planets that…
Astronomers Found a Ghostly Shock Wave Where Nothing Should Exist
Far from Earth, 730 light-years away, a small, dead star drifts through the galaxy, following the same slow orbit around…
Astronomers Discovered a Galaxy That Starved to Death Without a Single Explosion
In the vast, early universe, just a few billion years after everything began, one galaxy lived an intense and surprisingly…
This 11 Billion Year Old Galaxy Is Way More Mature Than Scientists Expected
Imagine gazing across the vast, dark ocean of the cosmos, looking so far back in time that the light you…
Scientists Found a Ghostly Reservoir of Gas That Shouldn’t Exist in the Deep Past
In the silent, dark expanse of the early universe, something massive was stirring. Long before the stars and galaxies we…
A Supermassive Black Hole Is Turning Into a Cosmic Fire Hose and Blasting Its Own Galaxy
In the vast, silent theater of the cosmos, galaxies are often thought of as self-contained cities of light, slowly spinning…
The Universe’s First Stars May Have Been Powered by Dark Matter Instead of Nuclear Fusion
In the deep, silent infancy of the cosmos, just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, the universe…
Millions of Hidden Black Holes Are Lurking in the Universe’s Smallest Galaxies
In the vast, silent stretches of our universe, galaxies drift like glowing islands, each harboring a secret at its core.…
Mars is Glowing with Ghostly Electrical Storms That Are Reshaping its Entire Surface
Mars is often painted as a silent, rusted graveyard, a world where the clock stopped eons ago. Yet, if you…
The Universe Is Jiggling Like Jell-O and Scientists Finally Know Why
Imagine the entire universe as a crowded, Olympic-sized swimming pool. Every galaxy is a swimmer, and every movement they make…
Scientists Finally Locate the Secret Engine Powering the Sun’s Most Violent Eruptions
On a typical afternoon in late 2017, the sun did what it has done for billions of years: it unleashed…
Strange Celestial Oddballs Are Hiding the Secrets of Alien Space Weather
For as long as humans have looked at the night sky, we have wondered about the invisible forces that shape…
Our Galaxy’s Sleeping Giant Was Actually Screaming Just a Few Centuries Ago
At the very center of our galaxy lies a monster that, by all rights, should be screaming. This is Sagittarius…
Spacecraft Exhaust Is Racing Across the Moon and Could Erase the History of Life
For billions of years, the Moon has served as a silent witness to the chaotic history of our solar system.…
We Are Finally Watching the Ghost of a 17000 Light Year Old Explosion Breathe
In the autumn of 1604, the German astronomer Johannes Kepler looked up at the night sky and witnessed a “new…
Scientists Discovered a Massive Cloud of Gas That Forgot to Turn Into a Galaxy
In the silent, cold expanse of the nearby universe, about 94 million light years away from our own neighborhood, there…
Astronomers Solve the 850 Year Old Mystery of the Sky’s Most Bizarre Frozen Firework
In the year 1181 AD, observers on Earth looked toward the heavens and witnessed a celestial anomaly. A “guest star”…
Astronomers Discover a Flash of Blue Light Brighter Than 400 Billion Suns
In the silent, freezing reaches of the deep cosmos, a massive star once drifted in a gravitational dance with a…