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astrophysics

An abstract black ball on a blue background.
Abstractions blog

In Violation of Einstein, Black Holes Might Have ‘Hair’

By Jonathan O'Callaghan
February 11, 2021
Read Later

A new study shows that extreme black holes could break the famous “no-hair” theorem, and in a way that we could detect.

Historical star chart of the constellation Monoceros.
Abstractions blog

‘Unicorn’ Discovery Points to a New Population of Black Holes

By Jonathan O'Callaghan
January 27, 2021
Read Later

Small black holes were nowhere to be found, leading astronomers to wonder if they didn’t exist at all. Now a series of findings, including a “unicorn” black hole, has raised hopes of solving the decade-long mystery.

Abstractions blog

Secret Ingredient Found to Power Supernovas

By Thomas Lewton
January 21, 2021
Read Later

Three-dimensional supernova simulations have solved the mystery of why they explode at all.

The Milky Way galaxy shown in X-rays.
Abstractions blog

Galaxy-Size Bubbles Discovered Towering Over the Milky Way

By Charlie Wood
January 6, 2021
Read Later

For decades, astronomers debated whether a particular smudge was close-by and small, or distant and huge. A new X-ray map supports the massive option.

Abstractions blog

Astronomers Get Their Wish, and a Cosmic Crisis Gets Worse

By Natalie Wolchover
December 17, 2020
Read Later

We don’t know why the universe appears to be expanding faster than it should. New ultra-precise distance measurements have only intensified the problem.

A computer simulation of two galaxies colliding.
astrophysics

The New History of the Milky Way

By Charlie Wood
December 15, 2020
Read Later

Over the past two years, astronomers have rewritten the story of our galaxy.

A pink beam at the center of a metallic experimental apparatus.
Abstractions blog

Physicists Pin Down Nuclear Reaction From Moments After the Big Bang

By Thomas Lewton
November 11, 2020
Read Later

The newly-measured rate of a key nuclear fusion process from the Big Bang matches the picture of the universe 380,000 years later.

Cora Dvorkin in front of a starry backdrop.
Hidden Structure

The Cosmologist Who Dreams in the Universe’s Dark Threads

By Rebecca Boyle
November 5, 2020
Read Later

Cora Dvorkin discovered new possibilities for what dark matter could be. Now she’s devising unorthodox ways to identify it.

Spheres of three different sizes.
Abstractions blog

Debate Erupts Over How ‘Forbidden’ Black Holes Grow

By Adam Mann
November 3, 2020
Read Later

Once missing in action, middleweight black holes have finally been detected. Now researchers are trying to figure out how they grow from small ones.


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