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This inside-out planetary system has astronomers scratching their heads
A rocky exoplanet in the LHS 1903 system defies planet formation models, hinting that gravitational upheaval reshaped the red dwarf’s four worlds.
Astronomers discover 'unique inside-out system' with a rocky planet far from where it belongs
Astronomers have spotted an unusual 'inside-out' planetary system where a rocky world seems to have formed far beyond the realm typically reserved for gas giants.
Webb: Transforming Our Understanding of Star Formation
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has “supercharged” what astronomers know about star formation with its sharp near- and mid-infrared observations. In this video, learn about some of the most exciting discoveries Webb has made since the start of its science oper...
Astronomers close in on long-lost Soviet lunar lander
Luna 9 was the first humanmade object to reach the moon in 1966.
Why Scientists Are Still Figuring Out the Size and Shape of Jupiter
As astronomers catalogue thousands of exoplanets, why is our own solar system still so hard to detail?
Help scientists document Midwest light pollution by looking at Orion
More people participating in the citizen science project Globe At Night could help fill gaps in what astronomers know about the extent of skyglow.
Scientists just mapped the hidden structure holding the Universe together
Astronomers have produced the most detailed map yet of dark matter, revealing the invisible framework that shaped the Universe long before stars and galaxies formed. Using powerful new observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, the research shows how dark matter gathered ordinary matter into dense regions, setting the stage for galaxies like the Milky Way and eventually planets like Earth.
Help scientists document Midwest light pollution by looking at Orion
More people participating in the citizen science project Globe At Night could help fill gaps in what astronomers know about the extent of skyglow.
University of Washington astronomers discover a record-breaking asteroid
Astronomers at the University of Washington recently discovered a record-breaking asteroid using early images from the new Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile.
Astronomers spot 'time-warped' supernovas whose light both has and hasn't reached Earth
Will two rare supernovas finally tell us how fast the universe is expanding? Perhaps, but we'll have to wait for it for them to 'reappear'.
Radio waves revealed what happened before a star exploded
For the first time, astronomers have captured radio signals from a rare exploding star, exposing what happened in the years leading up to its death. The radio waves reveal that the star violently shed huge amounts of material shortly before it exploded, likely due to interaction with a nearby companion star. This discovery gives scientists a new tool to rewind the clock on stellar deaths. It also shows that some supernovae are far more dramatic in their final moments than previously thought.
AI Unlocks Hundreds of Cosmic Anomalies in Hubble Archive
Astronomers used a cutting-edge, AI-assisted technique to uncover rare astronomical phenomena within archived data from Hubble.
Researchers discover hundreds of cosmic anomalies with help from AI
A team of astronomers have used a new AI-assisted method to search for rare astronomical objects in the Hubble Legacy Archive. The team sifted through nearly 100 million image cutouts in just two and a half days, uncovering nearly 1400 anomalous objects, more than 800 of which had never been documented before.
Astronomers unveil map of dark matter's distribution in universe
Using observations from the James Webb Space Telescope in a patch of the sky covering almost three times the area of the full moon, scientists have created the most detailed cosmic map to date of the mysterious substance called dark matter that accounts for most of the stuff that populates the universe.
“Stars like the Sun don’t just stop shining,” but this one did
A distant Sun-like star suddenly went dark for months, stunning astronomers who quickly realized something massive was passing in front of it. Observations revealed a gigantic disk of gas and dust filled with vaporized metals, swirling around an unseen companion object. For the first time, scientists directly measured the motion of these metallic winds inside such a disk. The findings suggest that even ancient star systems can still experience catastrophic planetary smashups.
Stanford Scientists Reveal Oldest Map of the Night Sky, Previously Lost to Time
SLAC researchers used X-ray beams and the particle accelerator to recover the work of an ancient astronomer, who made the earliest known attempt to log the stars.
Halley’s comet may need a new, medieval name
Astronomers suggest the honor should go to an 11th century monk known for a disastrous flying attempt.
The Ring Nebula is hiding a giant structure made of iron
A huge bar of iron has been discovered lurking inside the iconic Ring Nebula. The structure is enormous, spanning hundreds of times the size of Pluto’s orbit and containing a Mars-sized amount of iron. It was detected using a new instrument that allowed astronomers to map the nebula in far greater detail than ever before. The origin of the iron bar is still a mystery, with one theory suggesting it could be the remains of a vaporized planet.
Astronomers aim to take ‘revolutionary’ moving image of black hole
Newly appointed Cambridge professor says feat would accelerate scientific knowledge by an order of magnitude
Astronomers finally find an atmosphere around a rocky exoplanet - Futura-Sciences
From Io’s volcanoes to Enceladus’s geysers, our Solar System is a study in contrasts. The exoplanet realm is just as rich—and scientists are hunting for signs of life or, at least, clues to how life ... Read more
Astronomers may have already spotted the 'Great Comet of 2026' — and it could soon be visible to the naked eye
Recently discovered Comet C/2025 R3 (PanSTARRS) will make its closest approach to the sun and Earth in late April and could potentially be visible to the naked eye. It may end up being the brightest comet of the year.
Oddball 'platypus galaxies' spotted by James Webb telescope may challenge our understanding of galaxy formation
Astronomers spotted nine galaxies with characteristics that have never been seen as a collection before. It's possible this is a newly found type of star-forming galaxy.
A galaxy cluster hotter than the surface of the sun is shocking researchers : Short Wave
Most astronomers agree that young galaxy clusters should be relatively cool compared to older ones. But researchers recently found a very young cluster that’s hotter than the surface of the sun. More on why the finding is so shocking, plus elephant’s remarkable sniffing abilities and a new discovery about butterfly migration in this episode of Short Wave. Interested in more science news? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.
Scientists Discover Cloud-9, a Starless ‘Galaxy That Wasn’t’
Astronomers announced the discovery of a starless cloud of hydrogen gas, a pristine relic of the cosmos that is almost as old as time itself.
Galaxies with ‘hoop skirts’ are more common than we thought
The discovery of thousands more galaxies with stars ringing their main disks could help astronomers study galactic evolution more generally.
Scientists Identify 'Astronomy’s Platypus' with NASA’s Webb Telescope
After combing through NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s archive of sweeping extragalactic cosmic fields, a small team of astronomers at the University of
NASA Hubble Helps Detect 'Wake' of Betelgeuse’s Elusive Companion Star
New Hubble and ground-based observations allowed astronomers to track the influence of a recently discovered companion star around Betelgeuse.
Scientists Just Clocked a ‘Rogue’ Planet the Size of Saturn
Astronomers just measured the mass of a free-floating planet without a star for the first time
Mercury: The planet that shouldn't exist
Mercury has long baffled astronomers because it defies much of what we know about planet formation. A new space mission arriving in 2026 might solve the mystery.
Astronomers discover one of the Universe’s largest spinning structures
Scientists have discovered a giant cosmic filament where galaxies spin in sync with the structure that holds them together. The razor-thin chain of galaxies sits inside a much larger filament that appears to be slowly rotating as a whole. This coordinated motion is far stronger than expected by chance and hints that galaxy spin may be inherited from the cosmic web itself. The finding opens a new window into how galaxies formed and how matter flows across the Universe.
A Christmas tree 80 light-years wide appears in space
This Christmas, astronomers are highlighting a spectacular region of space that looks remarkably like a glowing holiday tree. Known as NGC 2264, this distant star-forming region sits about 2,700 light-years away and is filled with newborn stars lighting up clouds of gas and dust. The stars form a triangular shape called the Christmas Tree cluster, crowned by the dramatic Cone Nebula and wrapped in the swirling Fox Fur Nebula below. Together, these features create a festive cosmic scene spanning nearly 80 light-years, showing how young stars shape their surroundings on a truly galactic scale.
Subaru Telescope reveals a hidden giant planet
Astronomers have uncovered a massive hidden planet and a rare “failed star” by combining ultra-precise space data with some of the sharpest ground-based images ever taken. Using the Subaru Telescope in Hawaiʻi, the OASIS survey tracked subtle stellar wobbles to pinpoint where unseen worlds were lurking—then captured them directly.
Why Astronomers Are Excited About Comet 3I/Atlas’ Close Approach
Comet 3I/Atlas is just the third known object to visit us from outside our solar system. So yes... we'll be talking about aliens.
Kristin Cabot breaks her silence after Coldplay kiss cam debacle: 'My kids were afraid that I was going to die'
Kristin Cabot, the former head of HR for Astronomer who got caught with her boss in the viral Coldplay kiss cam moment, speaks out for the first time several months after the event.
Astronomers just watched a black hole twist spacetime
Astronomers have detected spacetime itself being dragged and twisted by a spinning black hole for the first time. The discovery, seen during a star’s violent destruction, confirms a prediction made over 100 years ago and reveals new clues about how black holes spin and launch jets.
Mysterious, irradiated 'scar' in our galaxy points to 2 stars that almost hit the sun
Astronomers traced a mysterious 'scar' of ionized gas around the solar system to two stars that had a close flyby with our sun millions of years ago.
Scientists Say They've Found Another Anomaly About 3I/ATLAS
A "detection of a wobbling high-altitude jet" in the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS has Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb intrigued.
'We were amazed': Scientists using James Webb telescope may have discovered the earliest supernova in the known universe
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope report that a powerful gamma-ray burst detected in March may have been produced by the explosion of a massive star just 730 million years after the Big Bang.
Amherst astronomers to explain winter solstice science at campus Sunwheel
Astronomer Stephen Schneider will lead the morning session and Grant Wilson will join the evening event. T
Strange, 7-hour explosion from deep space is unlike anything scientists have seen — Space photo of the week
Astronomers used major telescopes across the world to probe a cosmic explosion 8 billion light-years from the solar system.
Black Hole Eats Star: NASA Missions Discover Record-Setting Blast
Astronomers have been poring over a flood of data from NASA satellites and other facilities as they try to work out what was responsible for an extraordinary
Scientists Finally Explain Mysterious “Impossible” Merger of Two Massive Black Holes
A detailed suite of simulations conducted by astrophysicists at the Flatiron Institute and their collaborators showed that magnetic fields can produce black holes with masses that were previously believed to be mostly unattainable. In 2023, astronomers recorded a dramatic cosmic event. Two unusua
Launching hundreds of thousands of satellites will threaten space research, scientists warn
We've all come to appreciate the beautiful images space telescopes provide us of galaxies, nebulas and more, but they also provide astronomers with important scientific information about our universe. That science may be under threat in the next decade if the proposed 560,000 satellites are launched.
Renowned astronomers push to protect Chile’s cherished night sky from an industrial project
Chile’s Atacama Desert is one of the darkest spots on earth, a crown jewel for astronomers who flock from around the world to study the origins of the universe in this inhospitable desert along the Pacific coast.
Scientists Say: Van Allen belts
Astronomers have detected these radiation belts around Earth and beyond. Jupiter’s belt is thousands of times as intense as Earth’s.
Scientists mapped the shape of a supernova for the first time ever – and it's not what we expected: Space photo of the week
Astronomers using data from the Very Large Telescope (VLT) have revealed that the initial "breakout" phase of a supernova is elongated, not perfectly spherical.