Astronomy, features and articles | Educational Science

Oct 3, 2023

James Webb telescope's observations of 'impossible' galaxies at the dawn of time may finally have an explanation

Astrophysicists may have an explanation for the James Webb Space Telescope's discovery of a swarm of mysterious early galaxies that threaten to break cosmology. The galaxies, which the James Webb telescope (JWST) spotted forming as early as 500 million years after the Big Bang, were so bright that they theoretically...

Oct 4, 2023

'Remarkable' explosions from colliding, dead stars could reveal the true expansion rate of the universe

The collision and merger of two stellar corpses called neutron stars could help scientists unravel a long-standing mystery surrounding the expansion rate of the universe. Since the early 1900s, scientists have known that the universe is expanding. The discovery was made thanks to astronomer Edwin Hubble's observation that the more...

Oct 26, 2023

Largest-ever simulation of the universe reveals 'shortcomings' in standard model of cosmology

We see countless stars and galaxies sparkling in the universe today, but how much matter is actually there? The question is simple enough — its answer, however, is turning out to be quite a head-scratcher. This dilemma exists largely because current cosmological observations simply disagree on how matter is distributed...

Nov 10, 2023

'Rogue' star hurtling through the Milky Way won't smash into our solar system after all

The solar system of the far future is safe from a run-in with a runaway dead star. Last year, researchers looked at the trajectory of a rogue white dwarf star called WD 0810–353 with the Gaia space telescope and predicted that it was due for an encounter with our solar...

Nov 10, 2023

Dark matter may have its own 'invisible' periodic table of elements

The universe may have produced dark matter in the first few minutes of the Big Bang, according to new research. Those particles then got trapped into ultradense pockets. Some of those pockets splintered off to become black holes, which then dissolved into a shower of multiple dark matter particle species,...

Nov 23, 2023

Earth slammed by ultra-powerful 'goddess particle' cosmic ray, and we have no idea where it came from

Researchers have detected one of the most powerful cosmic rays ever seen slamming into Earth — but they have no idea what caused it or where it came from. The extremely energetic particle, which has been named after a Japanese goddess, arrived from the direction of a void in the...

Dec 4, 2023

Is Earth inside a giant void? It could solve one of cosmology's biggest puzzles

One of the biggest mysteries in cosmology is the rate at which the universe is expanding. This can be predicted using the standard model of cosmology, also known as Lambda-cold dark matter (ΛCDM). This model is based on detailed observations of the light left over from the Big Bang —...

Dec 6, 2023

Intergalactic 'stream of stars' 10 times longer than the Milky Way is the 1st of its kind ever spotted

Astronomers have accidentally discovered the first known intergalactic trail of stars. The gigantic stellar stream, which is around 10 times longer than the Milky Way, suggests that more of these structures could be lurking in deep space, a new study reveals. Stellar streams are elongated threads of gravitationally entwined stars...

Dec 15, 2023

James Webb telescope finds universe's smallest 'failed star' in cluster full of mystery molecules

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) may have identified the smallest star in the known universe — or at least, the smallest known object that began forming like a star, before fizzling out as a so-called brown dwarf. One basic question you'll find in every astronomy textbook is,...

Dec 18, 2023

How many times has the sun traveled around the Milky Way?

It can be hard to get your head around the fact that Earth is moving through space. But it is even stranger to realize that you are making two simultaneous journeys — around the sun and through the Milky Way. Just like the moon orbits Earth and our planet orbits...

Dec 19, 2023

Scientists find ultra-rare collection of molecules in 2 ancient galaxies from the early universe

A treasure trove of molecules has turned up in two galaxies that we see as they were over 12 billion years ago, revealing information about how the ancient realms form stars. One of the distant galaxies, APM 08279+5255, is home to a quasar — an active supermassive black hole at...

Dec 11, 2013

RIP Comet ISON: Scientists Declare Famous 'Sungrazer' Dead After Sun Encounter

SAN FRANCISCO — It's time to accept reality: Comet ISON is dead. Comet ISON broke apart during its highly anticipated solar flyby on Nov. 28, emerging from behind the sun as a diffuse cloud of dust that has since all but dissipated in the darkness of deep space, scientists say....

Dec 11, 2013

Europe Launches Wake-Up Call Contest for Comet-bound Spacecraft

In the chilly reaches of deep space, the unmanned Rosetta probe will soon awaken from a years-long hibernation for a 2014 comet rendezvous, and the European scientists want you to help wake the slumbering spacecraft. The European Space Agency is asking comet fans around the world to create a special...

Dec 18, 2013

Why Halley's Comet May Be Linked to Famine 1,500 Years Ago

SAN FRANCISCO — The ancients had ample reason to view comets as harbingers of doom, it would appear. A piece of the famous Halley's comet likely slammed into Earth in A.D. 536, blasting so much dust into the atmosphere that the planet cooled considerably, a new study suggests. This dramatic...

Mar 24, 2014

Capturing Halley's Comet: An Astronomy Tale

Victor Rogus is an amateur astronomer, and this is the first in his series of exclusive Space.com posts about amateur astronomy. He contributed this article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. April 8th is my father's birthday, but in 1986, I was not with him or the rest of...