Electromagnetic radiation astronomy is a research area focused on observing and interpreting astrophysical phenomena through their emission, absorption, and scattering of electromagnetic radiation across the entire spectrum, from radio waves to gamma rays. It encompasses the development and use of ground-based and space-borne telescopes, detectors, and instrumentation optimized for specific wavelength ranges, along with calibration, data reduction, and spectral, temporal, and imaging analysis techniques. The field integrates radiative transfer, plasma physics, and atomic and molecular processes to infer physical conditions, kinematics, composition, and magnetic fields in cosmic sources, and underpins multiwavelength and multi-messenger studies of the universe.
Peering far into the distant, high-redshift universe, the James Webb telescope has discovered an abundance of small red galaxies known as the Little Red Dots. From their observations, astronomers believe that at least some ...
Astronomy
7 hours ago
0
8
Jupiter's moon Europa has become high-value real estate for astrobiologists and the search for life beyond Earth. This is because the small moon, which is slightly smaller than Earth's moon, boasts a massive subsurface ocean ...
Space Exploration
Jun 29, 2026
0
21
Astronomers using the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa have discovered the most distant hydroxyl megamaser ever detected, opening a new radio astronomy frontier. A hydroxyl megamaser is a natural space laser, and this ...
Astronomy
Jun 13, 2026
1
805
NASA's plans to return astronauts to the moon through the Artemis program and ultimately send humans to Mars highlight just how far space exploration has come. Yet while the moon and Mars remain compelling destinations filled ...
Astronomy
Jun 8, 2026
0
17
A pair of stars spiraling around each other. That's the origin of a new source of repeating radio bursts we've detected, called ASKAP J1745.
Astronomy
Jun 7, 2026
1
655
The Very Large Array, the iconic field of radio antennas featured in the film "Contact" (inspired by Carl Sagan's novel), has a long and distinguished history of service. But after more than 45 years of studying the radio ...
Astronomy
Jun 3, 2026
0
26
The largest magnetic map of the universe ever produced—five times larger than all previous efforts combined—marks the beginning of a new generation of research into intergalactic magnetism. Magnetic fields influence how galaxies ...
Astronomy
Jun 3, 2026
3
38
Cornell astronomers are deploying a new instrument that grants them, for the first time, a better view of the universe's earliest galaxies, which can't be observed individually with traditional ground- or space-based telescopes.
Astronomy
May 12, 2026
0
37
There may be an ultraheavy explanation for the mystery surrounding the origins of the highest-energy particles ever observed. Ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays are particles from space that strike Earth with energies far beyond ...
Astronomy
May 7, 2026
5
76
When you're looking for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence, it helps to know what you're looking for and to go about it in the most efficient way. But work so far has generally not done so, writes Benjamin Zuckerman, ...
