Astronomy

Astronomy

The fastest-spinning white dwarf ever seen rotates once every 25 seconds

A white dwarf star that spins every 25 seconds owes its record-breaking rotation rate to a companion star dumping gas onto it.

Astronomy

China’s lunar rock samples show lava flowed on the moon 2 billion years ago

The first lunar rocks returned to Earth in more than 40 years show that the moon was volcanically active later than scientists thought.

Astronomy

When James Webb launches, it will have a bigger to-do list than 1980s researchers suspected

The James Webb Space Telescope has been in development for so long that space science has changed in the meantime.

Astronomy

Space rocks may have bounced off baby Earth, but slammed into Venus

New simulations suggest a way to help explain dramatic differences between the sibling worlds.

Astronomy

Satellite swarms may outshine the night sky’s natural constellations

Simulations suggest that satellite “mega-constellations” will be visible to the naked eye all night long in some locations.

Astronomy

A supernova’s delayed reappearance could pin down how fast the universe expands

“SN Requiem” should reappear in the 2030s and help determine the universe’s expansion rate.

Astronomy

How radio astronomy put new eyes on the cosmos

A century ago, radio astronomy didn’t exist. But since the 1930s, it has uncovered cosmic secrets from planets next door and the faint glow of the universe’s beginnings.

Astronomy

New ideas on what makes a planet habitable could reshape the search for life

New definitions of “habitable worlds” could include planets with global oceans under a steamy hydrogen atmosphere or exclude ones that started out habitable but lost all their water.

Astronomy

The definition of planet is still a sore point – especially among Pluto fans

In the 15 years since Pluto lost its planet status, scientists have continued to use the definition that works for them.

Astronomy

Here’s how cool a star can be and still achieve lasting success

The dividing line between successful stars and failed ones is a surface temperature of about 1,200° to 1,400° Celsius, a new study reports.

Space

Vera Rubin’s work on dark matter led to a paradigm shift in cosmology

‘Bright Galaxies, Dark Matter, and Beyond’ tells the story of how astronomer Vera Rubin provided key evidence for the existence of dark matter.

Astronomy

Measuring a black hole’s mass isn’t easy. A new technique could change that

The timing of flickers in the gas and dust in a black hole’s accretion disk correlates to its mass, a new study finds.