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astrophysics

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Illustration of a woman astronomer looking at a map that shows the James Webb Space Telescope capturing images of a distant planet.
The Joy of Why

Will the James Webb Space Telescope Reveal Another Earth?

By Steven Strogatz
May 18, 2022
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The space telescope is one of the most ambitious scientific projects ever undertaken. Marcia Rieke and Nikole Lewis, two of the scientists leading JWST investigations, talk to Steven Strogatz about how it may transform our understanding of the universe.

astrophysics

Black Hole Image Reveals the Beast Inside the Milky Way’s Heart

By Jonathan O'Callaghan
May 12, 2022
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In 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope released a historic image of a supermassive black hole in another galaxy. The follow-up — an image of Sagittarius A* — shows it shimmering at the center of our own.

Illustration of pieces of paper with scientific images on them feeding into a machine. A human hand turns a crank, and equations come out of the machine.
algorithms

Powerful ‘Machine Scientists’ Distill the Laws of Physics From Raw Data

By Charlie Wood
May 10, 2022
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Researchers say we’re on the cusp of “GoPro physics,” where a camera can point at an event and an algorithm can identify the underlying physics equation.

A grid of 66 galaxies.
astrophysics

Tiny Galaxies Reveal Secrets of Supermassive Black Holes

By Charlie Wood
March 14, 2022
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Dwarf galaxies weren’t supposed to have big black holes. Their surprise discovery has revealed clues about how the universe’s biggest black holes could have formed.

astronomy

Four Years On, New Experiment Sees No Sign of ‘Cosmic Dawn’

By Ben Brubaker
February 28, 2022
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When astronomers tried to confirm a signal from the birth of the first stars after the Big Bang, they saw nothing.

Video that zooms out from a close-up of a few simulated galaxies to a panoramic view of many different cube-shaped universes.
astrophysics

Any Single Galaxy Reveals the Composition of an Entire Universe

By Charlie Wood
January 20, 2022
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In computer simulations of possible universes, researchers have discovered that a neural network can infer the amount of matter in a whole universe by studying just one of its galaxies.

2021 in Review

The Year in Physics

By Michael Moyer
December 22, 2021
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Puzzling particles, quirky (and controversial) quantum computers, and one of the most ambitious science experiments in history marked the year’s milestones.

Collage illustration of the JWST
astrophysics

The Webb Space Telescope Will Rewrite Cosmic History. If It Works.

By Natalie Wolchover
December 3, 2021
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The James Webb Space Telescope has the potential to rewrite the history of the cosmos and reshape humanity’s position within it. But first, a lot of things have to work just right.

astrophysics

A Hint of Dark Matter Sends Physicists Looking to the Skies

By Jonathan O'Callaghan
October 19, 2021
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After a search of neutron stars finds preliminary evidence for hypothetical dark matter particles called axions, astrophysicists are devising new ways to spot them.


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