Universe

This ancient 'monster' galaxy should have destroyed itself

There's a monster out there. It's far away, buried deep in the past. But scientists can see it. And thanks to a new international imaging project, they've begun to understand it, too.<p>The monster is a galaxy that formed in the first billion years after the Big Bang. Astronomers call galaxies like …

South Carolina researcher finds time-reversing rays in universe

A gamma ray burst — the blast when a star collapses — is the most powerful thing in the universe known to humans. The explosion destroys matter.<p>And …

Ancient ‘Monster Galaxy’ Is Forming Stars a Thousand Times Faster Than the Milky Way

Chile’s Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) has observed a galaxy that looks nothing like what researchers expected. It’s forming …

How Gaia could help find Dyson spheres

Dyson spheres are hypothetical megastructures built by extraterrestrials for the purpose of harvesting all of a star’s energy. Here’s how the …

February 17, 1996 - Edwin Hubble Discovers the Universe

February 17, 1996 <b><br>Edwin Hubble Discovers the Universe</b> <b><br>Credit:</b> Mt. Wilson Archive, Carnegie Institution of Washington<p><b>Explanation:</b> No person in history …

'Ask a Spaceman' Takes a Closer Look at the Universe's 'Baby Picture'

This week's "Ask A Spaceman" episode explores the radiation echo of the Big Bang that formed our universe. While we can't see the radiation with our …

Detecting Life's Influence on Planetary Atmospheres

Biosignatures that vary in time and atmospheric gases that shouldn't exist without life to replenish them could be two possible ways to detect life …

What Was It Like When The Universe First Made Atoms?

When it comes to our world, our Solar System, and everything we can see in our Universe, it’s all made up of the same ingredients: atoms. Electrons and atomic nuclei interact and link up to form not just individual atoms, but simple and complex molecules, some of which have given rise to …

Three Volcanoes Erupt at Same Time

A number of people have written in that they enjoyed the phrase I made up that we are like a pebble at the bottom of the ocean with no clue what lies …

Meteorites reveal Jupiter's troubled childhood

Jupiter may be the largest planet in the solar system, but it experienced growing pains. That's the conclusion of a team of scientists from the …

Taking the First Picture of a Black Hole

1. What are the Event Horizon Telescope and the Global mm-VLBI Array?<p>30.3.2017<p>At the centre of our galaxy lurks a cosmic monster: a supermassive …

Extragalactic Globular Clusters

Look here for all you need to know to go above and beyond (our galaxy) to find some extraordinary extragalactic globular clusters! Off to hunt …

Looking for water in Jupiter’s Great Red Spot

Scientists have for the first time detected water clouds deep inside Jupiter’s Great Red Spot – a centuries-old storm larger than planet Earth – …

New Discovery On The Hottest Planet In The Known Universe [Infographic]

An exoplanet 650 light years away called KELT-9b reaches temperatures of about 7,800˚F. It’s this intense heat that led to the discovery of iron and titanium atoms in the atmosphere. On other exoplanets like Kepler-13A titanium has been detected in the atmosphere but not in this form. On that …

Nestled in Bavarian fields

Probing Large-Scale Coherence Between Spitzer IR and Chandra X-Ray Source-Subtracted Cosmic Backgrounds [STUB]

Probing Large-Scale Coherence Between Spitzer IR and Chandra X-Ray Source-Subtracted Cosmic Backgrounds [STUB]<p>External Online Source:<p>Author and …

The raging battle in the Carina Nebula: Violent standoff between stars and dust revealed in stellar system 7,500 light-years away

It is one of the biggest battles ever seen.<p>In the Carina Nebula, a dynamic, evolving cloud of thinly spread interstellar gas and dust about 7500 …

Cosmic Zombies: Black Holes Can Reanimate Dead Stars

Close encounters with medium-size black holes can reanimate dead stars, if only momentarily, a new study suggests.<p>A team of astronomers performed …

Scientists may have discovered the very first ‘ghost’ black hole from a different universe

It’s common knowledge that, because of the speed at which light travels, we can see things in space that aren’t even there anymore. If we peer at a …

A rare galaxy that's challenging our understanding of the universe

What's it like to discover a galaxy -- and have it named after you? Astrophysicist and TED Fellow Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil lets us know in this quick talk …

Unstable Monster Galaxy Hosts Runaway Star Formation

Some 12.4 billion light-years from Earth, a monster galaxy can be seen forming stars 1,000 times faster than the Milky Way does. It's less of a mess …

New Data On Exomoon Candidate Reveals 'A Very Exciting Object'

An exomoon—or something else?<p>David Kipping—astronomy professor at Columbia University and among the world’s foremost exomoon hunters—is mum for the moment.<p>“As much as I would love to tell you everything about it, I can’t go into it yet,” he says.<p>Here’s a brief backstory. Last year, Kipping’s team, …

New photo shows stellar life and death thousands of light-years from Earth

Death and new life meet in a photo showing off a nebula located 7,500 light-years away.<p>The Carina Nebula — recently photographed by the VISTA …

Unstoppable monster in the early universe

ALMA obtains most detailed view of distant starburst galaxy<p>Astronomers obtained the most detailed anatomy chart of a monster galaxy located 12.4 …

How a Massive Database on Stars Will Make It Easier to Explore Alien Worlds

Our sun shapes every day of our lives and always has — and if there's life on alien worlds, the same will be true of their stars.<p>That means that for …

Habitable Moist Atmospheres on Terrestrial Planets near the Inner Edge of the Habitable Zone Around M Dwarfs [STUB]

Habitable Moist Atmospheres on Terrestrial Planets near the Inner Edge of the Habitable Zone Around M Dwarfs [STUB]<p>External Online Source:<p>Author and …

Why Was Jupiter’s Rapid Growth Spurt Delayed for Millions of Years?

New research suggests why Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, waited about two million years for its early-formation growth spurt.<p>A team …

An elliptical galaxy… kinda

Galaxies — huge collections of gas, dust, dark matter, and stars — come in four very broad types. Spirals, like our Milky Way, have a flat disk with …

Space Shots: The Universe's Best Images

A gallery of photos, visualizations, and other pictures of outer space.<p><i>This post was last updated on Friday, May 12, 2017.</i><p>Here at <i>Popular Science</i>, we love space—and we know you do too. From seeing the nearly-true colors of Europa, a molten metal orb levitate in microgravity, or even a map of a …

Astronomers “Weigh” Beta Pictoris b

Astronomers have a precise new mass measurement for Beta Pictoris b, a young gas giant still in the throes of formation 63 light-years from Earth.The …