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Fermi telescope poised to pin down gravitational wave sources (w/video)
NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has made a tantalizing discovery associated with the first-ever detection of gravitational waves. A burst of X-ray light may have been the flash produced when two black holes collided.
April 18, 2016 Read more
Confirmation of supernova explosion in the neighborhood of our solar system
Approximately two million years ago a star exploded in a supernova close to our solar system: Its traces can still be found today in the form of an iron isotope found on the ocean floor. Now scientists have found increased concentrations of this supernova-iron in lunar samples as well.
April 14, 2016 Read more
Cosmic rays: The key to galaxy formation?
Understanding the physics of galaxy formation is arguably among the greatest problems in modern astrophysics. A newly formed research group investigates the impact of cosmic rays on galaxy and cluster formation.
April 13, 2016 Read more
New, fast solar wind propulsion system Is aim of new study
Scientists are set to use computer models to investigate the results of experimental testing at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville to develop an engineering tool to design missions using a new type of long-distance space propulsion.
April 12, 2016 Read more
New tool refines exoplanet search
Astronomers report on a technological upgrade for one method of finding planets or confirming other planetary detections.
April 11, 2016 Read more
Astronomers discover mysterious alignment of black holes
Deep radio imaging has revealed that supermassive black holes in a region of the distant universe are all spinning out radio jets in the same direction - most likely a result of primordial mass fluctuations in the early universe.
April 11, 2016 Read more
Hot super-Earths stripped by host stars: 'Cooked' planets shrink due to radiation
Astrophysicists have used data from the NASA Kepler space telescope to discover a class of extrasolar planets whose atmospheres have been stripped away by their host stars.
April 11, 2016 Read more
'Virtual Habitat' software - to Mars and back
Researchers simulate life support systems in space travel.
April 11, 2016 Read more
Black hole in a lonely galaxy
Astronomers find unusual descendant of a quasar.
April 7, 2016 Read more
'Smoothed' light will help search for Earth's twins
Physicists have developed optical technology for the 'correction' of light coming from distant stars, which will significantly improve the 'seeing' of telescopes and therefore will enable us to directly observe exoplanets as Earth-twins.
March 30, 2016 Read more
Earth-space telescope system produces hot surprise
Astronomers using an orbiting radio telescope in conjunction with four ground-based radio telescopes have achieved the highest resolution, or ability to discern fine detail, of any astronomical observation ever made. Their achievement produced a pair of scientific surprises that promise to advance the understanding of quasars, supermassive black holes at the cores of galaxies.
March 30, 2016 Read more
Magnetar could have boosted explosion of extremely bright supernova
Calculations by scientists have found highly magnetized, rapidly spinning neutron stars called magnetars could explain the energy source behind two extremely unusual stellar explosions.
March 24, 2016 Read more
New research shows quasars slowed star formation
Study finds first observed evidence of galactic-wind phenomenon.
March 23, 2016 Read more
A new way to determine the age of stars?
Researchers have developed a new conceptual framework for understanding how stars similar to our Sun evolve. Their framework helps explain how the rotation of stars, their emission of x-rays, and the intensity of their stellar winds vary with time.
March 23, 2016 Read more
Caught for the first time: The early flash of an exploding star
NASA's planet hunter, the Kepler space telescope, has captured the brilliant flash of an exploding star's shock wave - what astronomers call the 'shock breakout' of a supernova - for the first time in visible light wavelengths.
March 22, 2016 Read more
Record-breaking ultraviolet winds discovered near black hole
The fastest winds ever seen at ultraviolet wavelengths have been discovered near a supermassive black hole.
March 21, 2016 Read more
Most eccentric planet ever known flashes astronomers with reflected light
A team of researchers has spotted an extrasolar planet about 117 light-years from earth that boasts the most eccentric orbit yet seen.
March 21, 2016 Read more
VLA shows earliest stages of planet formation
Astronomers see unprecedented detail of inner portion of protoplanetary disk.
March 18, 2016 Read more