
JWST Spies a Giant Space Hamburger—and Maybe Planetary Origins, Too
It’s neither fast nor food, but a spectacular object called HH 30 looks appetizing for astronomers in a new image from the James Webb Space Telescope
JWST Spies a Giant Space Hamburger—and Maybe Planetary Origins, Too
It’s neither fast nor food, but a spectacular object called HH 30 looks appetizing for astronomers in a new image from the James Webb Space Telescope
This Supermassive Black Hole May Harbor a Bizarre Star That Refuses to Die
Strange x-ray pulses hint at a surprisingly long-lived white dwarf orbiting precariously close to a supermassive black hole
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Do We Live in a Special Part of the Universe?
According to a tenet scientists call the cosmological principle, our place in space is in no way exceptional. But recent observations could overturn this long-held assumption
How Do Astronomers Navigate the Sky?
The celestial equivalent to latitude and longitude lets astronomers find their way across the heavens
The Dawn of ‘Dark Ages’ Astronomy
The universe’s light-starved early epochs, as well as the first stars and galaxies, lie beyond the reach of conventional observatories but could be revealed by a new generation of radio telescope arrays
What’s Inside Our Galaxy’s Darkest Place?
Barnard 68 is often mistaken for a hole in space, but it’s actually a dense, opaque cloud of dust—for now
Why We Probably Won’t Find Aliens Anytime Soon
Odds are that we’re not truly alone in the cosmos. But practically speaking, we might as well be
Famous Star Hasn’t Formed Planets, and We Don’t Know Why
The nearby star Vega, featured in the 1997 movie Contact, appears to have a smooth disk devoid of giant planets for reasons we can’t explain
The Arecibo Message, Earth’s First Interstellar Transmission, Turns 50
In 1974 we beamed a radio transmission into space that changed the way we think about our place in the cosmos
What’s the Roundest Object in the Universe?
Finding a perfect sphere is actually pretty difficult
Alternate Timelines Can’t Help You, Quantum Physicists Say
The multiverse offers no escape from our reality—which might be a very good thing
Scientists Spy a ‘Dandelion’ Supernova around a ‘Zombie’ Star
A strange supernova remnant first appeared as a “guest star” seen in 1181 by sky watchers in China and Japan