SEATTLE — Luke Skywalker’s home planet in Star Wars is the stuff of science fiction. But Tatooine-like planets in orbit around pairs of stars might be our best bet in…
Category: Astronomy
New data show how quickly light pollution is obscuring the night sky
The night sky has been brightening faster than researchers realized, thanks to the use of artificial lights at night. A study of more than 50,000 observations of stars by citizen…
The James Webb telescope found ‘Green Pea’ galaxies in the early universe
Galaxies that helped transform the early universe may have been small, round and green. Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have spotted “Green Pea” galaxies dating to 13.1 billion…
Methylated gases could be an unambiguous indicator of alien life
SEATTLE — Attention alien hunters: If you want to find life on distant planets, try looking for signs of toxic chemical cleanup. Gases that organisms produce as they tidy up…
The James Webb Space Telescope wasn’t the only big space news in 2022
While the stunning images from the James Webb Space Telescope captured space fans’ attention this year, other telescopes and spacecraft were busy on Earth and around the solar system (SN…
The James Webb telescope is getting glimpses of small, far-off planets
BALTIMORE — When the James Webb Space Telescope was first dreamed up, exoplanets hadn’t even been discovered yet. Now the observatory is showing astronomers what it can learn about planets…
The first planet found by the Kepler space telescope is doomed
The first planet ever spotted by the Kepler space telescope is falling into its star. Kepler launched in 2009 on a mission to find exoplanets by watching them cross in…
How the James Webb telescope’s glances back in time are reshaping cosmology
BALTIMORE — The James Webb Space Telescope is living up to its promise as a wayback machine. The spectacularly sensitive observatory is finding and confirming galaxies more distant, and therefore…
A bizarre gamma-ray burst breaks the rules for these cosmic eruptions
Astronomers have spotted a bright gamma-ray burst that upends previous theories of how these energetic cosmic eruptions occur. For decades, astronomers thought that GRBs came in two flavors, long and…
In 2022, the James Webb Space Telescope brought us new views of the cosmos
This year marked the end of a decades-long wait for astronomers. The James Webb Space Telescope is finally in action. The telescope, which launched in December 2021, released its first…
