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Hubble sees boulders escaping from asteroid dimorphos

Astronomers using Hubble's extraordinary sensitivity have discovered a swarm of boulders that were possibly shaken off the asteroid when NASA deliberately slammed the half-ton DART impactor spacecraft into Dimorphos at approximately 14,000 miles per hour.

Jul 21st, 2023

How old are stars outside clusters?

Scientists have successfully established a connection between the rotation rates of stars in star clusters and those outside them, so-called field stars, enabling the ages of the latter to be derived.

Jul 20th, 2023

Two-faced star exposed

Unusual white dwarf star is made of hydrogen on one side and helium on the other.

Jul 19th, 2023

Astronomers find new type of stellar object

The discovery of a new type of stellar object challenges our understanding of the physics of neutron stars.

Jul 19th, 2023

Astronomers identify the coldest star yet that emits radio waves

Cooler than a campfire and smaller than Jupiter, this brown dwarf star is a rare find.

Jul 13th, 2023

When the stars align: Astronomers find answers to mysterious action of ghost stars in our Galaxy

Scientists have found a source for the mysterious alignment of stars near the Galactic Centre.

Jul 13th, 2023

More evidence key building block of life were on Mars

Perseverance rover discovers diverse organic matter in Mars's Jezero Crater.

Jul 12th, 2023

'Sandwich' discovery offers new explanation for planet formation

By investigating the 'birth environment' of planets - areas of gas and dust that swirl around a central star - known as the protoplanetary disc, astronomers have made a new discovery on how small planets might form.

Jul 5th, 2023

Black hole ripples could help pin down expansion of Universe

The echoes of light from jets launched from black holes offers a new way to pin down the distance to these exotic objects and to study a largely unobserved population in the centre of the Galaxy. It could also even help determine the rate of expansion of the Universe.

Jul 5th, 2023

Astrophysicists propose a new way of measuring cosmic expansion: lensed gravitational waves

A major scientific goal of future detectors is to deliver a comprehensive catalog of gravitational wave events, and this will be a completely novel use of the remarkable dataset.

Jul 3rd, 2023

Quasar 'clocks' show Universe was five times slower soon after the Big Bang

Quasars are the supermassive black holes at the centres of early galaxies. Scientists have unlocked their secrets to use them as 'clocks' to measure time near the beginning of the universe. With this tick-tock of the quasar clock, we can now chart time across the life of the cosmos.

Jul 3rd, 2023

Breakthrough in the search for slowly oscillating gravitational waves

For the first time, astrophysicists have found compelling evidence for the existence of gravitational waves which oscillate with periods ranging from years to decades.

Jun 29th, 2023

Starlight and the first black holes: researchers detect the host galaxies of quasars in the early universe

For the first time, the James Webb Space Telescope has revealed starlight from two massive galaxies hosting actively growing black holes - quasars - seen less than a billion years after the Big Bang.

Jun 28th, 2023

Life beyond certain death: astronomers find a planet that shouldn't be there

Scientists have encountered a planet that appears to have survived its host star expanding outwards to become a red giant. However, the single star, Baekdu, might once have been a binary star system, helping the lucky planet survive.

Jun 28th, 2023

Webb makes first detection of crucial carbon molecule

This molecule, never before seen in space, is believed to be a cornerstone of interstellar organic chemistry.

Jun 26th, 2023

Never-before-seen way to annihilate a star

International Gemini Observatory traces gamma-ray burst to nucleus of ancient galaxy, suggesting stars can undergo demolition-derby-like collisions.

Jun 22nd, 2023

Exoplanet may reveal secrets about the edge of habitability

How close can a rocky planet be to a star, and still sustain water and life? A recently discovered exoplanet may be key to solving that mystery, providing important insights about conditions at the inner edge of a star's habitable zone and why Earth and Venus developed so differently.

Jun 21st, 2023

Observations of high-mass star seeds defy models

Astronomers have mapped 39 interstellar clouds where high-mass stars are expected to form. This large data set shows that the accepted model of low-mass star formation needs to be expanded to explain the formation of high-mass stars.

Jun 20th, 2023