Astronomy

  1. Planetary Science

    Saturn’s icy rings are probably heating its atmosphere, giving it an ultraviolet glow

    Detecting similar emission from a distant world could help astronomers find other planets that boast bright and beautiful rings.

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  2. Astronomy

    The first black hole portrait got sharper thanks to machine learning

    A machine learning technique filled in data gaps in the image of M87’s black hole, resulting in a thinner ring.

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  3. Science & Society

    The Smithsonian’s ‘Lights Out’ inspires visitors to save the fading night sky

    The exhibition examines how light pollution harms astronomy, ecosystems and human cultures. But it also offers hope.

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  4. Astronomy

    A stream of cold gas is unexpectedly feeding the far-off Anthill Galaxy

    The finding suggests that early galaxies might have gained more of their bulk from streams of cold gas instead of in violent galaxy collisions.

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  5. Astronomy

    A neutron star collision may have emitted a fast radio burst

    Astronomers spotted both a fast radio burst and gravitational waves from a cosmic smashup in the same part of the sky and at about the same time.

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  6. Astronomy

    The biggest planet orbiting TRAPPIST-1 doesn’t appear to have an atmosphere

    TRAPPIST-1b is hotter than astronomers expected, suggesting there’s no atmosphere to transport heat around the planet.

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  7. Astronomy

    The mystery of Christiaan Huygens’ flawed telescopes may have been solved

    The discovery of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, may have come despite its discoverer, Christiaan Huygens, needing eyeglasses.

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  8. Astronomy

    A runaway black hole has been spotted fleeing a distant galaxy

    A bright streak stretching away from a remote galaxy might be the light from stolen gas and new stars caught in the wake of an escaping black hole.

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  9. Astronomy

    Newborn stars sculpt their galaxies in new James Webb telescope images

    Dark voids riddle the galaxies’ faces, highlighting previously invisible details about how new stars alter their locales.

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  10. Cosmology

    Astronomers spotted shock waves shaking the web of the universe for the first time

    Studying these elusive shock waves could give scientists a better look at the mysterious magnetic fields that permeate the cosmic web.

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  11. Astronomy

    Half of all active satellites are now from SpaceX. Here’s why that may be a problem

    Of the roughly 7,300 active satellites in Earth orbit, about 3,600 are part of SpaceX’s growing fleet of Starlink internet satellites.

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  12. Astronomy

    The Milky Way may be spawning many more stars than astronomers had thought

    Glowing radioactive debris from massive stars indicates our galaxy mints 10 to 20 new stars a year — double to quadruple the standard number.

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