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Milky Way's 'most-mysterious star' continues to confound
Speculation to account for KIC 8462852's dips in brightness has ranged from it having swallowed a nearby planet to an unusually large group of comets orbiting the star to an alien megastructure.
October 5, 2017 Read more
Organohalogens - indicators of extraterrestrial life?
First-time discovery of chemical compound Freon-40 in space.
October 4, 2017 Read more
Astronomers reveal evidence of dynamical dark energy
The discovery found that the nature of dark energy may not be the cosmological constant introduced by Albert Einstein 100 years ago, which is crucial for the study of dark energy.
October 3, 2017 Read more
Private companies are launching a new space race - here's what to expect
The space environment is no longer the sole preserve of government agencies. Private companies have entered the exploration domain and are propelling the sector forward more vigorously and swiftly than would be the case if left to governments alone.
October 3, 2017 Read more
Three-detector observation of gravitational waves (w/video)
The cosmic ripples were not only observed by the two Ligo observatories in the USA, but also the Italian detector Virgo.
September 27, 2017 Read more
Searching for distant worlds with a flying telescope
Astronomers, using an observatory on board a jumbo jet, have observed how the extrasolar Planet GJ 1214b is passing in front of its star, causing a kind of mini-eclipse.
September 27, 2017 Read more
The strange structures of the Saturn nebula
The Saturn Nebula is located approximately 5000 light years away in the constellation of Aquarius (The Water Bearer). Its name derives from its odd shape, which resembles everyone's favourite ringed planet seen edge-on.
September 27, 2017 Read more
Cartography of the cosmos
Astrophysicists are trying to simulating all the processes in the structure and formation of the universe. It's like solving a very large physics puzzle.
September 26, 2017 Read more
Oxygen-deficient dwarf galaxy hints at makings of early universe
A recently discovered dwarf galaxy in the constellation Lynx may serve well as a proxy for better understanding the developing chemistry of the early universe.
September 25, 2017 Read more
IceCube helps demystify strange radio bursts from deep space
For a decade, astronomers have puzzled over ephemeral but incredibly powerful radio bursts from space.
September 25, 2017 Read more
The material that obscures supermassive black holes
Astronomers review the most recent results on the material that obscures AGN.
September 25, 2017 Read more
Observatory detects extragalactic cosmic rays hitting the Earth
Fifty years ago, scientists discovered that the Earth is occasionally hit by cosmic rays of enormous energies. Since then, they have argued about the source of those ultra-high energy cosmic rays - whether they came from our galaxy or outside the Milky Way.
September 22, 2017 Read more
Positive, negative or neutral, it all matters: NASA explains space radiation (w/video)
Charged particles may be small, but they matter to astronauts. NASA's Human Research Program (HRP) is investigating these particles to solve one of its biggest challenges for a human journey to Mars: space radiation and its effects on the human body.
September 22, 2017 Read more
Is the Milky Way an 'outlier' galaxy? Studying its 'siblings' for clues
The most-studied galaxy in the universe - the Milky Way - might not be as 'typical' as previously thought, according to a new study.
September 20, 2017 Read more
Ageing star blows off smoky bubble
In the faint southern constellation of Antlia the careful observer with binoculars will spot a very red star, which varies slightly in brightness from week to week. This very unusual star is called U Antliae and new observations are revealing a remarkably thin spherical shell around it.
September 20, 2017 Read more
Size matters in the detection of exoplanet atmospheres
A group-analysis of 30 exoplanets orbiting distant stars suggests that size, not mass, is a key factor in whether a planet?s atmosphere can be detected.
September 19, 2017 Read more
When radio galaxies collide, supermassive black holes form tightly bound pairs
A study using multiple radio telescopes confirms that supermassive black holes found in the centers of galaxies can form gravitationally bound pairs when galaxies merge.
September 18, 2017 Read more
What we're hoping to learn from the magnetic readings of Cassini's final orbits
The spacecraft, now a memory, leaves us with an enormous legacy - a dataset that will take decades to fully exploit.
September 18, 2017 Read more