Even when you remove the bright stars, the glowing dust and other nearby points of light from the inky, dark sky, a background glow remains. That glow comes from the…
Category: Astronomy
Some of the sun’s iconic coronal loops may be illusions
Coronal loops, well-defined hot strands of plasma that arch out into the sun’s atmosphere, are iconic to the sun’s imagery. But many of the supposed coronal loops we see might…
Earth’s purported ‘nearest black hole’ isn’t a black hole
The nearest black hole to Earth isn’t a black hole at all. Instead, what scientists thought was a stellar triplet — two stars and a black hole — is actually…
A new image captures enormous gas rings encircling an aging red star
Huge rings of gas surround a large red star named V Hydrae, new images show, signaling its eventual transformation into a much smaller and bluer star. “It’s definitely going through…
Astronomers may not have found a sign of the universe’s first stars after all
A new study casts a haze over a hint of the universe’s first glimmers of starlight. In 2018, researchers claimed that a subtle signature in radio waves from early in…
How Russia’s war in Ukraine hinders space research and exploration
Space exploration may seem like a faraway endeavor from Earth’s surface, but events on the ground ripple into space. The Russian war on Ukraine is no exception. From a rocket…
A fast radio burst’s unlikely source may be a cluster of old stars
In a galaxy not so far away, astronomers have located a surprising source of a mysterious, rapid radio signal. The signal, a repeating fast radio burst, or FRB, was observed…
A rare collision of dead stars can bring a new one to life
Like a phoenix, some stars may burst to life covered in “ash,” rising from the remains of stars that had previously passed on. Two newfound fireballs that burn hundreds of…
Core memory weavers and Navajo women made the Apollo missions possible
The historic Apollo moon missions are often associated with high-visibility test flights, dazzling launches and spectacular feats of engineering. But intricate, challenging handiwork — comparable to weaving — was just…
How ‘hot Jupiters’ may get their weirdly tight orbits
Strange giant planets known as hot Jupiters, which orbit close to their suns, got kicked onto their peculiar paths by nearby planets and stars, a new study finds. After analyzing…
