Astronomers discover spacetime drag around a supermassive black hole — as predicted by Einstein
A star’s fatal brush with a supermassive black hole can light up a quiet galaxy. When gravity shreds…
New images reveal an early-stage stellar eruption (nova) in stunning detail
A classical nova may look simple at first. A faint star brightens, sometimes enough for you to spot…
White rocks on Mars point to ancient rainfall and a wetter planet
Light-colored rocks scattered across Mars have become a quiet clue to a louder story about the planet’s past.…
The Milky Way’s stars reveal a hidden history of two galaxies in one
From your place inside the Milky Way, you are living within a galaxy that keeps a detailed chemical…
New gravitational lens measurements reveal a faster expansion rate for the universe
For much of the twentieth century, scientists expected the expanding universe to slow over time. The opposite turned…
At 50 million-light-years long, scientists discover one of the universe’s largest structures
Look up on a dark night and the stars seem scattered at random. Step back in scale, though,…
Time moves faster on Mars than on Earth, study finds
On Earth, knowing the time feels simple. Your phone pings the same second as a GPS satellite and…
After nearly a century of looking, researchers may have finally detected dark matter
For nearly a century, something unseen has tugged at the cosmos. In the 1930s, Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky…
For the first time ever, researchers made a photon travel back in time
Shattered glass does not leap back into your hand. Smoke from a match does not gather itself and…
First-ever images of powerful X1.3-class solar flare captured by solar telescope
From 93 million miles away, the Sun just got a lot more personal. Astronomers have now seen some…
Balloon telescope sheds new light on pulsars and black holes
Long before rockets and satellites reached space, the Crab Nebula stood out as a steady beacon of high-energy…
Worm experiments expose hidden health risks of deep space travel
When scientists first sent microscopic worms into orbit in 2018, they hoped to answer a question that has…