With a power of 10,000 suns, jets emitted by a black hole were measured for the first time
The universe contains many mysterious and powerful objects. This is the case for black holes, which are celestial…
The universe is significantly older than previously thought, astronomers find
Galaxies spotted by the James Webb Space Telescope have been causing trouble for the standard story of cosmic…
The biggest black holes grow by crashing into each other over and over again
Some of the biggest black holes ever picked up through gravitational waves may not have formed in a…
Massive black hole from the early universe has astronomers looking back to the Big Bang
Far back in cosmic time, one small red object is refusing to behave. Abell 2744–QSO1 appears just 700…
Mercury has a 10-mile-thick layer of diamonds under its surface
Mercury does not look like a world built for extravagance. It is small, battered, sun-scorched and gray. Yet…
Dante’s Inferno suggests Hell and Purgatory mirror the physics of a massive asteroid impact
For centuries, Dante Alighieri’s Inferno has been read as a moral and spiritual descent, a journey into sin,…
Supernovae help astronomers measure how the Universe expands over time
Astronomers have leaned on Type Ia supernovae for decades because these stellar explosions act like mile markers across…
Strange atmosphere detected on small icy world beyond Pluto
A star blinked in a strange way over Japan last January, and that flicker may have exposed something…
A dead galaxy from the early universe is forcing astronomers to rethink galactic evolution
Space tends to reward expectations. Young galaxies should spin. Gas falls in, gravity takes hold, angular momentum builds,…
Astronomers map the climate of Earth-like exoplanets for the first time
A pair of scorched worlds circling the red dwarf TRAPPIST-1 now offer one of the clearest looks yet…
NASA’s first nuclear-powered spacecraft is heading to Mars, and its bringing helicopters
For years, nuclear propulsion sat in the same category as so many ambitious space ideas, impressive on paper,…
Ancient impact with Theia may have brought water and life to Earth
Earth’s story may have hardened into place almost as soon as the Solar System began. That is the…