Space
In 2023, space missions explored the moon, asteroids and more
This year, spacecraft landed on the moon, dropped off asteroid samples to Earth and started a journey to Jupiter's icy moons.
Astronomy
More Stories in Astronomy
- Astronomy
50 years ago, astronomers challenged claims that Barnard’s star has a planet
Astronomers have been searching for planets around the sun’s close neighbor for decades.
- Astronomy
A rare, extremely energetic cosmic ray has mysterious origins
In 1991, physicists spotted a cosmic ray with so much energy it warranted an ‘OMG.’ Now that energetic particle has a new companion.
- Astronomy
A rare glimpse at a relatively nearby supernova offers clues to how stars die
Thanks to its home in the Pinwheel galaxy, a favorite of amateur astronomers, researchers have monitored SN 2023ixf since shortly after it exploded.
- Astronomy
The black hole–powered jet in galaxy M87 is making stars explode
Hubble Space Telescope data show a surprising number of nova blasts along the jet of high-speed gas coming from the galaxy M87.
- Physics
Vela’s exploded star is the highest-energy pulsar ever seen
A spinning dead star about 1,000 light-years away, in the constellation Vela, raises questions about how pulsars can emit such extreme radiation.
- Astronomy
This ‘polar ring’ galaxy looks like an eye. Others might be hiding in plain sight
New images of two galaxies reveal what look like rarely seen rings of hydrogen gas nearly perpendicular to the galaxies’ starry disks.
- Astronomy
Astronomers call for renaming the Magellanic Clouds
Explorer Ferdinand Magellan is not a fitting namesake for the pair of satellite galaxies of the Milky Way, a group of scientists argues.
- Astronomy
Active supermassive black holes may be rarer than previously thought
A dearth of rapidly growing black holes in new James Webb telescope data raises questions about how these behemoths grow and influence their galaxies.
- Astronomy
This extreme star might have huge tidal waves
Gravitational forces between two orbiting stars might be creating huge waves of plasma on one of the stars that break and crash to the surface.
