Astronomers

A small space rock was detected just a few hours before hitting Earth's atmosphere and landing in Canada's Lake Ontario on Saturday (Nov. 19). The mini-asteroid, less than 3 feet (1 meter) wide, was spotted by astronomer David Rankin at…

A hitherto undiscovered black hole announced its presence to astronomers when it ripped apart and devoured a star that wandered too close to it.The intermediate-mass black hole located in a dwarf galaxy a million light-years from Earth…

Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/GSFC/B. J. Williams et al.; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI While astronomers have seen the debris from scores of exploded…

Using W. M. Keck Observatory on Hawaiʻi Island, astronomers have captured the most detailed and complete images of the zone where the famed constellation of Orion gets zapped with ultraviolet (UV) radiation from massive young stars.…

Planetary nebulae are short-lived “leftovers” of sun-like stars. Most of these “star ghosts” only last—at most—about 25,000 years. Usually, their clouds of debris disperse so broadly that they fade out fairly quickly. However, there’s…

The new generation of Starlink satellites remains above the accepted brightness threshold.It’s one of the stranger sights of the modern Space Age. Recently, we found ourselves under the relatively dark skies of southern Spain. Sure…

Even though it’s impossible to see it, dark matter fills the universe. And now, it seems increasingly likely it always has. An international team from Japan used the Subaru Telescope at the controversial Mauna Kea Observatories complex…

More than 5,000 planets exist beyond our solar system, according to NASA, and this week astronomers announced they may have discovered the youngest one so far.Scientists using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in…

A sample dwarf galaxy (small box left) observed with the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope on AstroSat. AstroSat detected extremely blue star-forming clumps on the galaxy's outer boundary (box on left) (IUCAA)Dwarf galaxies, made up of a…

Mirror photo by Holly Claycomb Tom Kasner talks to visitors about his homemade telescope, which weighs nearly 100 pounds, but can be separated into two pieces to make it easier to transport. The instrument — a Dobsonian Reflector — is…