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Spiraling giants: Witnessing the birth of a massive binary star system

Astronomers have made observations of a molecular cloud that is collapsing to form two massive protostars that will eventually become a binary star system.

Mar 18th, 2019

Trembling aspen leaves could save future Mars rovers

Researchers have been inspired by the unique movement of trembling aspen leaves, to devise an energy harvesting mechanism that could power weather sensors in hostile environments and could even be a back-up energy supply that could save and extend the life of future Mars rovers.

Mar 18th, 2019

How heavy elements come about in the universe

An experiment simulates how heavy elements capture protons.

Mar 18th, 2019

Astronomers discover 83 supermassive black holes in the early universe

Subaru Telescope spots 13-billion-year-old quasars powered by black holes.

Mar 13th, 2019

Neural networks predict planet mass

To find out how planets form astrophysicists run complicated and time consuming computer calculations. Scientists have now developed a totally novel approach to speed up this process dramatically. They use deep learning based on artificial neural networks, a method that is well known in image recognition.

Mar 13th, 2019

What scientists found after sifting through dust in the solar system

Two recent studies report discoveries of dust rings in the inner solar system: a dust ring at Mercury's orbit, and a group of never-before-detected asteroids co-orbiting with Venus, supplying the dust in Venus' orbit.

Mar 12th, 2019

Massive twin star discovered snuggling close to its stellar sibling

Astronomers have discovered a binary star system with the closest high-mass young stellar objects ever measured, providing a valuable 'laboratory' to test theories on high mass binary star formation.

Mar 11th, 2019

What does the Milky Way weigh? Hubble and Gaia investigate

We can't put the whole Milky Way on a scale, but astronomers have been able to come up with one of the most accurate measurements yet of our galaxy's mass, using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the European Space Agency's Gaia satellite.

Mar 7th, 2019

'Goldilocks' stars may be 'just right' for finding habitable worlds

A new study finds a particular class of stars called K stars, which are dimmer than the Sun but brighter than the faintest stars, may be particularly promising targets for searching for signs of life.

Mar 7th, 2019

Physicists analyze the rotational dynamics of galaxies and the influence of the mass of the photon

Could the effect of photon mass on the gaseous components in galaxies be as strong as that of dark matter?

Mar 5th, 2019

The case of the over-tilting exoplanets

For almost a decade, astronomers have tried to explain why so many pairs of planets outside our solar system have an odd configuration -- their orbits seem to have been pushed apart by a powerful unknown mechanism. Researchers say they've found a possible answer, and it implies that the planets' poles are majorly tilted.

Mar 4th, 2019

Asteroids are stronger, harder to destroy than previously thought

A popular theme in the movies is that of an incoming asteroid that could extinguish life on the planet, and our heroes are launched into space to blow it up. But incoming asteroids may be harder to break than scientists previously thought, finds a study that used a new understanding of rock fracture and a new computer modeling method to simulate asteroid collisions.