astrophysics
Can Astronomers Predict Which Stars Are About to Explode as Supernovae?
In a recent study submitted to High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena, a team of researchers from Japan discuss strategies to observe,…
Hubble Checks the Weather on Hot Jupiters. Forecast: 100% Chance of Hellish Conditions
While the Hubble Space Telescope celebrates 32 years in orbit, like a fine wine, it has only gotten better with…
Mixing Science and Art, One Painting at a Time
All her life, Laci Shea Brock has needed to be creative and inventive. So, perhaps it’s not completely surprising that…
The Destruction of Dark Matter isn’t Causing Extra Radiation at the Core of the Milky Way
While recent studies suggest that dark matter interactions might create gamma rays, a new study of gamma rays in our…
Supercomputer Simulation Shows a Supernova 300 Days After it Explodes
The answers to many questions in astronomy are hidden behind the veil of deep time. One of those questions is…
Detecting the Neutrinos From a Supernova That’s About to Explode
Neutrinos are puzzling things. They're tiny particles, almost massless, with no electrical charge. They're notoriously difficult to detect, too, and…
Neutron Stars Could Have a Layer of Exotic Quark Matter Inside Them
Deep inside a neutron star, neutrons are packed so tightly that they can break apart into quarks. As a result…
Astronomers Watch a Nova Go From Start to Finish for the First Time
A nova is a dramatic episode in the life of a binary pair of stars. It's an explosion of bright…
The Lowest Mass Black Hole has Been Found, only 3.3 Times the Mass of the Sun
A team of astronomers recently discovered the smallest black hole to date, which indicates that there may be far more…
SOFIA Follows the Sulfur for Clues on Stellar Evolution
A high-flying space telescope is shedding light on where some of the basic building blocks for life may have originated…