Gaia
One in Twelve Stars Ate a Planet
That stars can eat planets is axiomatic. If a small enough planet gets too close to a large enough star,…
This New Map of 1.3 Million Quasars Is A Powerful Tool
Quasars are the brightest objects in the Universe. The most powerful ones are thousands of times more luminous than entire…
Nancy Grace Roman will Map the Far Side of the Milky Way
The Galaxy is a collection of stars, planets, gas clouds and to the dismay of astronomers, dust clouds. The dust…
Are Andromeda and the Milky Way Already Exchanging Stars?
I often drag out the amazing fact that the Andromeda Galaxy, that faint fuzzy blob just off the corner of…
Astronomers Build a 3D Map of Dust Within Thousands of Light-Years
If you explore the night sky it won’t be long before you realise there is a lot of dust and…
Scientists Track How a Giant Wave Moved Through Our Galactic Backyard
Astronomers say there's a wave rippling through our galactic neighborhood that's playing a part in the birth and death of…
The SETI Ellipse Tells Us Where to Search for Extraterrestrial Civilizations
Of all the questions that remain unanswered, the question of life in the Universe is surely the one that captures…
Astronomers Measure the Mass of the Milky Way by Calculating How Hard it is to Escape
Several techniques have been developed to measure the mass of the Milky Way, providing a range of estimates. In a…
There’s Less Dark Matter at the Core of the Milky Way
Science really does keep you on your toes. First there was matter and then there were galaxies. Then those galaxies…
Will Wide Binaries Be the End of MOND?
It’s a fact that many of us have churned out during public engagement events; that at least 50% of all…