Stellar Evolution
Astronomers Caught Betelgeuse Just Before it Started Dimming and Might Have Seen a Pressure Wave Rippling Through its Atmosphere
A couple of years ago, Betelgeuse generated much interest when it started dimming. That caught the attention of astronomers worldwide,…
Slimmed Down Red Giants Had Their Mass Stolen By a Companion Star
Millions of stars that can grow up to 620 million miles in diameter, known as 'red giants,' exist in our…
A Second Generation of Planets can Form Around a Dying Star
When young stars coalesce out of a cloud of molecular hydrogen, a disk of leftover material called a protoplanetary disk…
Astronomers Watch a Star Die and Then Explode as a Supernova
It's another first for astronomy. For the first time, a team of astronomers have imaged in real-time as a red…
Giant Stars and the Ultimate Fate of the Sun
Astronomers have a new tool to help them understand giant stars. It's a detailed study of the precise temperatures and…
NASA Simulation Shows What Happens When Stars Get Too Close to Black Holes
What happens to a star when it strays too close to a monster black hole? Astronomers have wondered why some…
Quick Action Let Hubble Watch the Earliest Stages of an Unfolding Supernova Detonation
If it weren't for supernova remnants we wouldn't have much knowledge of supernovae themselves. If a supernova explosion is the…
Newly Forming Stars Don’t Blast Away Material as Previously Believed. So Why Do They Stop Growing?
We thought we understood how stars are formed. It turns out, we don't. Not completely, anyway. A new study, recently…
An All-Sky X-Ray Survey Finds the Biggest Supernova Remnant Ever Seen
Our sky is missing supernovas. Stars live for millions or billions of years. But given the sheer number of stars…
A New Supernova Remnant Found from an Exploding White Dwarf Star
Astronomers have spotted the remnant of a rare type of supernova explosion. It's called a Type Iax supernova, and it's…