Helix Nebula reveals what happens to material shed by a dying star
The Helix Nebula is revealing how debris from a dying star gets broken apart and mixed into the…
Diffuse puffs of “missing” matter surround most galaxies | MIT News
Stars and galaxies make up much of the universe’s ordinary, observable matter. But for decades, scientists have wrestled…
New study reveals how dark matter formed shortly after the Big Bang
Dark matter may not have needed a calm, cold start to help build the universe. For decades, that…
Listening for the echoes of black holes | MIT News
Black holes are often misunderstood to be just that: dark and mysterious voids that are somehow akin to…
Astronomers discover faint dwarf galaxy that seems to exist without dark matter
A faint dwarf galaxy drifting 45 million light-years from Earth may have joined one of astronomy’s strangest clubs.…
The Haystack 37m Telescope: A new era of astrophysical research | MIT News
The Haystack 37m Telescope has been a landmark in radio astronomy and radar studies of the solar system since…
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…
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…
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,…
Cosmic simulations reveal how galaxies formed and evolved over billions of years
Cold gas does not look dramatic at first glance. Neither does dust. Yet those two quiet ingredients sit…
Scientists are rethinking how young galaxies formed their magnetic fields
Magnetic fields that stretch across thousands of light-years should take a very long time to organize. Standard dynamo…
Nearly invisible galaxy may be built mostly of dark matter, Hubble finds
A tight clump of four star clusters sits in the Perseus galaxy cluster, and at first glance it…