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astrophysics

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A dark red planetlike object.
explainers

Neither Star nor Planet: A Strange Brown Dwarf Puzzles Astronomers

By Jonathan O'Callaghan
August 4, 2021
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Brown dwarfs such as “The Accident” are illuminating the murky borderlands that separate planets from stars.

A large telescope with many segmented hexagonal mirrors.
astrophysics

Brighter Than a Billion Billion Suns: Gamma-Ray Bursts Continue to Surprise

By Jonathan O'Callaghan
June 30, 2021
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These ultrabright flashes have recently been tracked for days, upending ideas about the cataclysms that create them.

planetary science

Astronomers Find Secret Planet-Making Ingredient: Magnetic Fields

By Robin George Andrews
June 7, 2021
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Scientists have long struggled to understand how common planets form. A new supercomputer simulation shows that the missing ingredient may be magnetism.

A glowing blue sphere in space.
astrophysics

Squishy Neutron Star Setback Dampens Hopes of Exotic Matter

By Jonathan O'Callaghan
May 26, 2021
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Groundbreaking results show that neutron stars of different masses may have the same size — upending astrophysical models.

An animation of a glowing conical beam
astrophysics

Physicists Identify the Engine Powering Black Hole Energy Beams

By Natalie Wolchover
May 20, 2021
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Supermassive black holes emit jets of white-hot plasma that stretch thousands of light-years across the cosmos. For the first time, researchers have identified what’s creating these jets.

A three-panel illustration of a starburst galaxy, an active galactic nucleus and a tidal disruption event.
astrophysics

Cosmic Map of Ultrahigh-Energy Particles Points to Long-Hidden Treasures

By Natalie Wolchover
April 27, 2021
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Ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays twist and turn on their way to Earth, which has made it nearly impossible to identify the colossal monsters that create them.

Photo of radio telescopes at the Allen Telescope Array with a starry sky featuring the Milky Way in the background.
Quantized Columns

How Radio Astronomy Reveals the Universe

By Emily Levesque
April 13, 2021
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Radio waves, longer and less energetic than visible light, give astronomers access to some of the most obscure physics in the cosmos.

Spheres representing black holes, with small ones on top, large ones on the bottom, and one midsize example in the middle.
astrophysics

Long-Missing Midsize Black Hole Flashes Into View

By Jonathan O'Callaghan
March 29, 2021
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Black holes seemed to come only in sizes small and XXL. A new search strategy has uncovered a black hole of “intermediate” mass, raising hopes of more to come.

An illustration of a bright blue flash in space.
astrophysics

New Kind of Space Explosion Reveals the Birth of a Black Hole

By Jonathan O'Callaghan
March 10, 2021
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A supernova-like explosion dubbed the Camel appears to be the result of a newborn black hole eating a star from the inside out.


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