Astronomy

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.