Astronomy, features and articles | Educational Science

Feb 4, 2024

Space photo of the week: Hubble catches a 'baseball galaxy' with a black hole heart

What it is: ESO 420-G013, an extremely bright face-on spiral galaxy harboring a hungry black hole When it was taken: Jan. 30, 2024 Where it is: 50 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Sculptor Why it's so special: This image from the Hubble Space Telescope captures the dark dust...

Feb 7, 2024

Our universe is merging with 'baby universes', causing it to expand, new theoretical study suggests

Our universe is expanding at an ever-accelerating rate — a phenomenon that all theories of cosmology agree upon but none can fully explain. Now, a new theoretical study offers an intriguing solution: Perhaps our universe is expanding because it keeps colliding with and absorbing baby parallel universes. Studies of the...

Feb 9, 2024

Stunning 'Einstein engagement ring' from the early universe is one of the oldest ever discovered

The Hubble Space Telescope recently snapped an extremely rare, near-perfect ring of gravitationally warped light, known as an Einstein ring, shining from a galaxy in the early universe. The luminous halo lines up perfectly with another galaxy, making it look like a diamond-studded engagement ring. Einstein rings occur when light...

Feb 15, 2024

What would happen if you moved at the speed of light?

In science fiction, people often find a way to move at the speed of light. But you might find yourself asking, could your body survive going so fast? What would happen to it? First, let's assume that it is possible — though it is not — for a human to...

Feb 20, 2024

James Webb telescope finds ancient galaxy larger than our Milky Way, and it's threatening to upend cosmology

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has found a galaxy in the early universe that's so massive, it shouldn't exist, posing a significant challenge to the standard model of cosmology, according to the study authors. The galaxy, called ZF-UDS-7329, contains more stars than the Milky Way, despite having formed only...

Feb 22, 2024

Dead star smaller than Jupiter is one of the tiniest in the known universe

Astronomers have discovered an extraordinary binary system in which a dead star, or white dwarf, whips around its blisteringly hot and tiny stellar companion so fast that it squeezes almost 72 years into just one Earth day. The system, designated TMTS J0526, was spotted by a Tsinghua University team using...

Feb 24, 2024

Bizarre 'Russian doll stars' predicted with Einstein's general relativity equations

A newly developed solution to the equations at the heart of Albert Einstein's most revolutionary theory suggests hypothetical stars called nestars could be made from stacked gravitational stars, or gravastars, like Russian tea dolls, also known as matryoshka dolls. One of the most impressive things about Einstein's 1915 theory of...

Feb 25, 2024

Space photo of the week: 'El Gordo' galaxy cluster shakes its guts in largest-ever magnetic field map of space

What it is: A gigantic map of a galaxy cluster's magnetic field. Where it is: El Gordo galaxy cluster, around 7 billion light-years from Earth. Why it's so special: For the first time, researchers have sketched out the invisible magnetic field of a gigantic galaxy cluster. The resulting map is...

Feb 26, 2024

'Finally, we have the evidence': James Webb telescope spots neutron star hiding in wreckage of famous 1987 supernova

Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have ended a nearly decade-long game of celestial hide-and-seek after they discovered a neutron star in the wreckage of a stellar explosion. Supernova 1987A represents the remains of an exploded star that once had a mass around 8 to 10 times that...

Feb 28, 2024

Passing stars may have changed Earth's orbit and climate, study finds

Earth's present-day climate change is human-induced, but the gravitational tugs of other planets can also cause long-term climatic patterns by slightly changing our planet's orbit. Now, research suggests that massive passing stars can alter Earth's path, too — and that these cosmic tugs may limit researchers' ability to study the...

Mar 3, 2024

Space photo of the week: A young star sweeps up its cosmic neighborhood in vibrant new Hubble image

What it is: A star-forming nebula called IRAS 16562-3959 When it was published: Feb. 21, 2024 Where it is: 5,900 light-years from Earth in the constellation Scorpius. Why it's so special: Not only is Hubble's latest image of a star-forming nebula exquisitely detailed and packed with activity, but it's also...

Mar 4, 2024

James Webb telescope reveals collection of ancient galaxies that 'transformed the entire universe'

Astronomers have used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and an effect predicted by Albert Einstein over 100 years ago to discover that small galaxies in the early cosmos packed a massive punch, shaping the entire universe when it was less than 1 billion years old. The international team found...

Mar 6, 2024

James Webb telescope detects oldest 'dead' galaxy in the known universe — and its death could challenge cosmology

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have discovered the oldest dead galaxy ever seen — but the cosmic corpse has left scientists puzzled as it defies explanation by our current knowledge of the early cosmos. The galaxy suddenly and mysteriously halted star formation when the universe was just...

Mar 7, 2024

The James Webb telescope may have found some of the very 1st stars in the universe

Evidence for the first generation of stars to exist in the universe has come to light, thanks to observations made by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The proof is located in one of the most distant galaxies known. The galaxy, designated GN-z11, was discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope...

Sep 12, 2023

Green comet Nishimura has passed its closest point to Earth, and it won't be back for another 430 years

An extremely bright comet that was only discovered last month has made its closest approach to Earth as it falls rapidly toward the sun. The icy object, known as Comet Nishimura, will soon be slingshotted around our star and back into the outer reaches of the solar system, where it...