Stellar Evolution
Baby Stars Discharge “Sneezes” of Gas and Dust
I’m really not sure what to call it but a ‘dusty sneeze’ is probably as good as anything. We have…
Astronomers See 18 Examples of Stars Getting Torn Apart by Black Holes
Black holes have always held a special fascination for me ever since I was a geeky kid looking up at…
Is this the Lightest Black Hole or Heaviest Neutron Star?
About 40,000 light-years away, a rapidly spinning object has a companion that's confounding astronomers. It's heavier than the heaviest neutron…
A Giant Star is Fading Away. But First, it Had an Enormous Eruption
About 16,000 light-years away, a massive star experienced an unusual dimming event. This can happen in binary stars when one…
Three Baby Stars Found at the Heart of the Milky Way
The core of our Milky Way is buzzing with stars. Recently astronomers reported that it contains at least one ancient…
Vampire Stars Get Help from a Third Star to Feed
Some stars are stuck in bad binary relationships. A massive primary star feeds on its smaller companion, sucking gas from…
Can a Dead Star Keep Exploding?
In September 2022, an automated sky survey detected what seemed to be a supernova explosion about one billion light-years away.…
A Star Threw Off a Sun’s Worth of Material. And Then it Exploded!
What happens just before a massive star explodes as a supernova? To figure that out, astronomers need to look at…
When the Sun Dies, it Could Produce a Fantastic Ring in Space, Like This New Image From JWST
We recently got a new image of the famous Ring Nebula from JWST using its NIRCam instrument. This week we…
Is This How You Get Magnetars?
Imagine a living star with a magnetic field at least 100,000 times stronger than Earth's field. That's the strange stellar…