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Long-Lived Stellar Blast Kindles Hope of a Supernova We’ve Never Seen Before
A giant star’s death throes may offer the first evidence of a pair-instability supernova, and a glimpse of the first stars in the universe.
Cosmologists Debate How Fast the Universe Is Expanding
New measurements could upend the standard theory of the cosmos that has reigned since the discovery of dark energy 21 years ago.
Sun’s Puzzling Plasma Recreated in a Laboratory
For the first time, researchers have created a scale model of the twisting loops of the sun’s magnetic field.
Big Black Holes Found in the Smallest Galaxies
Tiny, dim “dwarf” galaxies have been found to hide gas-spewing black holes.
Wandering Space Rocks Help Solve Mysteries of Planet Formation
After an interstellar asteroid shot past the sun, scientists realized that there’s probably a lot of itinerant rocks out there.
A Close Look at Newborn Planets Reveals Hints of Infant Moons
Astronomers have discovered a complex planetary system still swirling into existence.
As Planet Discoveries Pile Up, a Gap Appears in the Pattern
Astronomers are puzzling over a paucity of planets in the galaxy measuring between 1.5 and two times Earth’s size.
The Sun Is Stranger Than Astrophysicists Imagined
The sun radiates far more high-frequency light than expected, raising questions about unknown features of the sun’s magnetic field and the possibility of even more exotic physics.
The Astronomer Who’d Rather Build Space Cameras
Jim Gunn shaped the theory of the evolution of the cosmos before building cameras and spectrographs for major observatories like the Hubble Space Telescope.