astrophysics

Sub-Neptunes are very good at hiding their secrets: many show flat spectra that could indicate multiple possibilities for their atmospheric composition. Yet some of these same worlds are caught in the act of losing hydrogen or helium to space. Could their escaping atmospheres reveal what their deceptively featureless spectra are hiding?

Astronomers using JWST have discovered that massive early galaxies contain far more small, faint stars than expected. That hidden population could make some of these galaxies three to four times more massive than previous estimates. The finding makes it even harder to explain how enormous, mature galaxies formed so soon after the Big Bang. It could also suggest that planets around low-mass stars …

A mysterious 1977 signal inspired a new lunar mission to place a telescope on the moon’s far side, where scientists hope to search the universe for hidden messages and rare cosmic signals.

As the agency pivots to putting astronauts on the moon, this $3-billion space-copter is the agency’s last large-scale mission to explore the solar system.

Looking for a sky event this week? Check out our full Sky This Week column.  August 21: Titan nears Saturn as Dione skims past Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, was near the planet yesterday and remains close to its parent world today as it moves through its 16-day orbit. Visible in the early-morning sky, Saturn is highest in Continue reading "The Sky Today on Saturday, August 22: Titan northwest of …

Direct imaging has revealed strong evidence that Betelgeuse is orbited by a companion two to three times as massive as the Sun. For generations, Betelgeuse has appeared to the naked eye as a single reddish point in the constellation Orion. Now astronomers have obtained their strongest evidence yet that the famous star has company. Using […]

Learn how to find and observe the Summer Triangle—Vega, Deneb, Altair—with star-hopping tips, deep-sky targets, and astrophotography advice. The post Summer Triangle Guide: Vega, Deneb, and Altair first appeared on .

Astronomers have discovered a hitherto unseen population of galaxies with fading radio lobes, revealing what happens to these vast outflows when their black hole engines stall.

Long-period Radio Transients are sources that emit repeating radio and x-ray signals. The signals are polarized and coherent, and are similar to pulsars in some respects. But the type of astrophysical object responsible for them has been vigorously debated. New research says that at least one of them comes from a cataclysmic variable, a binary star where a white dwarf and a red dwarf orbit closel…

Direct imaging has revealed strong evidence that Betelgeuse is orbited by a companion two to three times as massive as the Sun. For generations, Betelgeuse has appeared to the naked eye as a single reddish point in the constellation Orion. Now astronomers have obtained their strongest evidence yet that the famous star has company. Using [...]

Something in the young universe is shining like a star that should not be possible. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has detected a compact red object so luminous that ordinary nuclear fusion cannot plausibly explain it. Although the source has a star-like appearance and may be surrounded by gas on the scale of the solar [...]

The Geminid meteor shower in mid-December is one of the highlights of the observing year, with as many as 120 meteors visible per hour from a dark site. To capture them, Qu Xiaofeng set off for the grasslands of Hongyuan County in China’s northwest Sichuan province, known for its wide expanses at altitudes above 11,000 Continue reading "Geminid melodies" The post Geminid melodies appeared first o…

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope captured this Aug. 6, 2026, infrared image of part of the Carina Nebula, a star-forming region also home to the Cosmic Cliffs. This feature, called the “Treasure Chest,” is an object known as a cometary globule. A cometary globule is an isolated cloud of gas and dust with a dense, […]

Astronomers have discovered that the most massive galaxies in the early universe contain far more small stars than expected. As a result, these early galaxies were likely much more massive than initial measurements suggested. This discovery, which involved Penn State scientists, challenges current understanding about how the first galaxies formed. The results were recently published in Nature Ast…

In 2019, CHIME detected a very unusual fast radio burst (FRB) signal that excited the astronomical community. However, it turns out that the signal wasn’t from an FRB after all…

For the first time, astronomers have discovered 3 supermassive black holes in a single galaxy in the early universe. Two of them are merging! The post A first! 3 supermassive black holes discovered in 1 galaxy first appeared on EarthSky .