The Kepler spacecraft has captured the "shock breakout" of a distant supernova, a twenty minute event that signals the end…
In addition to its many commercial and scientific uses, helium is one of the most plentiful elements in our universe,…
Most of the time stars hang around for billions of years. But the Universe is a big place, and anything…
Humans have been looking up at the stars and finding patterns for millennia. Today, there are 88 recognized constellations, each…
Rogue stars are moving so quickly they’re leaving the Milky Way, and never coming back. How in the Universe could…
This week, millions of people will turn their eyes to the skies in anticipation of the 2015 Perseid meteor shower. But what happens on less…
Everything eventually dies, even galaxies. So how does that happen? Time to come to grips with our galactic mortality. Not…
The Solar System is 4.5 billion years old, but the Universe is much older. What was here before our Solar…
There is something about them that intrigues us all. These massive spheres of gas burning intensely from the energy of…
When a massive star reaches the end of its life, it can explode as a supernova. How quickly does this…