Astronomy
A gas cloud 5,500 times as massive as the sun lurks nearby
At 300 light-years away, the interstellar cloud is the closest of its kind ever found to Earth and the largest apparent single structure in the sky.
Astronomy
More Stories in Astronomy
- Astronomy
A claimed hint of alien life whips up spirited debate
Astronomers have a lot of thoughts about the latest paper claiming we’ve found the strongest hints of alien life yet on the distant planet K2 18b.
- Space
A NASA rover finally found Mars’ missing carbon
The Curiosity rover identified hidden caches of the mineral siderite, which could help explain why Mars lost its habitable climate.
- Astronomy
Yes, there really is a black hole on the loose in Sagittarius
Astronomers now agree: They’ve spotted the first isolated stellar-mass black hole ever seen.
- Astronomy
A nebula’s X-ray glow may come from a destroyed giant planet
Decades of constant X-ray emission from the Helix Nebula’s white dwarf suggest debris from a Jupiter-sized planet steadily rains upon the star.
- Space
The nearest single star to Earth has four small planets
Last year, astronomers announced that a planet orbits Barnard’s star. Now, researchers have confirmed the existence of three more.
- Cosmology
New baby pictures of the universe deepen a cosmic mystery
Cosmic microwave background data support cosmology’s standard model but retain a mystery about the universe’s expansion rate.
- Astronomy
The Milky Way’s black hole is constantly bubbling
The disc of plasma surrounding the black hole at the heart of the Milky Way is constantly emitting flares both large and small.
- Astronomy
Citizen scientists make cosmic discoveries with a global telescope network
On balconies and in backyards, Wi-Fi–enabled telescopes are connecting astronomy enthusiasts across six continents.
- Astronomy
The universe’s first supernovas probably produced water
Water may have formed less than 200 million years after the Big Bang, suggesting some conditions for life existed far earlier than previously thought.
