What's up in
galaxies
astrophysics
Missing Galaxies? Now There’s Too Many
Astronomers couldn’t find enough satellite galaxies orbiting the Milky Way. Now they have the opposite problem.
astrophysics
Galactic Beacons Get Snuffed Out in a Cosmic Eyeblink
Quasars powered by supermassive black holes have been unexpectedly vanishing. Scientists have started to figure out why.
astrophysics
Astronomers Creep Up to the Edge of the Milky Way’s Black Hole
Hot spots have been discovered orbiting just outside the supermassive black hole at the galaxy’s center. Their motions have given us the closest look at that violent environment.
cosmology
The Universe Is Not a Simulation, but We Can Now Simulate It
Computer simulations have become so accurate that cosmologists can now use them to study dark matter, supermassive black holes and other mysteries of the real evolving cosmos.
Q&A
Black-Hole Hunter Takes Aim at Einstein
The astrophysicist Andrea Ghez spent two decades proving that a supermassive black hole anchors the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Her new plan? Test what happens when things get too close.
Abstractions blog
How Superfluid Dark Matter Mimics an Old Idea About Gravity
Does the force of gravity change at large scales? Perhaps not, but a new theory of dark matter shows why that could appear to be the case.