https://phys.org/space-news/astronomy/ en-us The latest science news on astronomy, space, and astrophysics. Astronomers analyzing gravitational-wave data from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration have reported that merging binary black holes fall into three distinct categories. The study shows that the three subpopulations have their own characteristic masses, spin behavior, and merger rate that may be linked to different dominant formation mechanisms. The paper outlining their results was submitted to the preprint server arXiv on March 18. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-astronomers-evidence-subpopulations-merging-black.html Astronomy Sat, 11 Apr 2026 12:30:01 EDT news694692842 Observations conducted with the Subaru Telescope and its first-generation wide-field camera, Suprime-Cam, have revealed new insights into the relationship between the color and size of Jupiter Trojan asteroids. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-subaru-telescope-jupiter-trojan-asteroids.html Astronomy Fri, 10 Apr 2026 16:40:03 EDT news695045701 Astronomers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have employed the Lijiang 2.4-m telescope to perform optical photometric and spectroscopic observations of a core-collapse Type IIP supernova designated SN 2024abfl. Results of the observational campaign, published April 2 on the arXiv, preprint server, deliver essential information regarding the origin of this peculiar supernova. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-peculiar-core-collapse-supernova-mold.html Astronomy Fri, 10 Apr 2026 11:00:03 EDT news695033139 On Earth, extreme solar activity often appears as beautiful, benign auroras. But venturing beyond the safety of the Earth's magnetic field, one faces the full brunt of a temperamental star that can suddenly erupt with flares and coronal mass ejections. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-medieval-japanese-poetry-trees-elucidate.html Astronomy Thu, 09 Apr 2026 23:00:02 EDT news694943326 The absence of a signal could itself be a signal. This is the idea behind a new study published in the Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, which aims to redefine how we search for dark matter, showing that it may not be necessary to find the same "clues" everywhere in order to interpret it. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-dark-states.html Astronomy Thu, 09 Apr 2026 00:00:01 EDT news694856041 Fast solar winds originating from the sun can have direct impacts on Earth—disrupting systems like GPS, aviation, electrical grids, and satellite and radio communications. A new paper by New Mexico State University astronomy graduate student Khagendra Katuwal examines the connection between coronal holes and solar wind streams, helping improve our understanding of how the sun's magnetic structure influences space weather. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-student-coronal-holes-space-weather.html Astronomy Wed, 08 Apr 2026 15:00:01 EDT news694870433 Supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies are one of the most active fields of research in astronomy. In order to accumulate their enormous masses, they must merge with each other. A research team led by Silke Britzen from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) in Bonn has found direct evidence of two supermassive black holes in the galaxy Markarian 501, which orbit each other very closely. This could be the first time that a pair has been detected that is about to merge. This provides a unique opportunity to better understand a central process in galaxy evolution. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-pair-supermassive-black-holes.html Astronomy Tue, 07 Apr 2026 11:40:05 EDT news694773121 The two largest planets in our solar system, Jupiter and Saturn, also have the largest satellite systems, or the most moons. At present, Jupiter's reported moon count stands at more than 100 moons, and along with its many rings, Saturn has more than 280 reported moons. Not all these moons are equal, however. Jupiter's moon family has four large members, including the largest moon in the solar system, Ganymede, while Saturn's family is dominated by one large moon, Titan, the solar system's second largest. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-jupiter-cultivated-large-moons-saturn.html Astronomy Tue, 07 Apr 2026 11:20:04 EDT news694772744 By analyzing the data from the Pan-Andromeda Archaeological Survey (PandAS), European astronomers have discovered a new satellite of the Andromeda galaxy. The newfound object, which received the designation Andromeda XXXVI, appears to be an ultra-faint dwarf galaxy. The finding is reported in a paper published March 30 on the arXiv preprint server . https://phys.org/news/2026-04-astronomers-andromeda-xxxvi-ultra-faint.html Astronomy Tue, 07 Apr 2026 08:10:01 EDT news694706609 The Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX) has discovered tens of thousands of gigantic hydrogen gas halos, called "Lyman-alpha nebulae," surrounding galaxies 10 billion to 12 billion years ago. Known as Cosmic Noon, this is an epoch in the early universe when galaxies were growing their fastest. To spur this growth, they would have needed access to vast reservoirs of hydrogen gas, a key building block for stars. However, until recently, astronomers had only found a handful of these essential structures. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-astronomers-thought-early-universe-full.html Astronomy Mon, 06 Apr 2026 11:40:03 EDT news694687773 Using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an international team of astronomers has discovered a new "hot Jupiter" exoplanet. The newfound alien world, designated TOI-7169 b, orbits a metal-poor star, which is rare among exoplanets. The finding was detailed in a paper published March 26 on the arXiv pre-print server. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-hot-jupiter-orbiting-metal-poor.html Astronomy Mon, 06 Apr 2026 10:40:01 EDT news694687713 A team of US astronomers has carried out one of the deepest analyses to date of a sample from the asteroid Bennu, revealing new details about how water and organic material interacted during the earliest stages of the solar system. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-bennu-sample-reveals-newly-asteroid.html Astronomy Sun, 05 Apr 2026 13:00:03 EDT news694252964 Designed to hunt for new alien worlds, NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has serendipitously observed the rising outburst of a black hole X-ray binary known as AT 2019wey. The observations, which may help us better understand the nature of this system, were presented March 25 on the arXiv pre-print server. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-tess-black-hole-ray-binary.html Astronomy Sun, 05 Apr 2026 12:20:01 EDT news694337723 In about 5 to 8 billion years, our sun is expected to evolve into a white dwarf—an extremely dense, Earth-sized stellar remnant that has exhausted its fuel and shed its outer layer. But while our sun is a solitary star, research over the past 15 years has demonstrated that binary or multi-star systems are far more common than astronomers once thought. When a dense and compact remnant like a white dwarf is involved in a binary system, it often "snatches away" material from its companion star. This process, called accretion, usually emits X-rays in what is considered a "signature" signal. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-company-scientists-class-star-remnants.html Astronomy Sat, 04 Apr 2026 17:00:03 EDT news694191583 An unusual team of astronomers used Sloan Digital Sky Survey-V (SDSS-V) data and observations on the Magellan telescopes at Carnegie Science's Las Campanas Observatory in Chile to discover the most pristine star in the known universe, called SDSS J0715-7334. Their work is published in Nature Astronomy. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-pristine-star-universe.html Astronomy Fri, 03 Apr 2026 11:40:03 EDT news694431725 New research suggests that neutrinos in the early universe may have transformed into a previously unknown form of radiation. A study from Washington University in St. Louis offers a new way to explain certain puzzling observations about how the universe evolved. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-ghostly-particles-dark-masqueraded-neutrinos.html Astronomy Thu, 02 Apr 2026 17:00:09 EDT news694360381 Drawing together leading experts from across the field, an international collaboration of cosmologists has created a unified approach for measuring the value of the Hubble constant. Published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, the milestone could bring us a step closer to understanding why the universe appears to be expanding faster than our standard cosmological model predicts. https://phys.org/news/2026-02-cosmologists-collaborate-sharpen-hubble-constant.html Astronomy Thu, 02 Apr 2026 07:30:01 EDT news690543260 Researchers have uncovered new insights into the early development of baby stars. As published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, a research team from Kyushu University and Kagawa University reports that during the early growth period of a baby star, the protostellar disk—the dense disk of gas and dust that surrounds the star—expels magnetic flux and forms a giant warm ring of gas about 1,000 au (astronomical units) in size. The research team explains that these "sneezes" of matter and magnetic energy help the baby star release excess energy, leading to proper star formation. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-protostars-gas-magnetic-flux.html Astronomy Thu, 02 Apr 2026 05:00:04 EDT news694194122 An international team led by Monash University has uncovered evidence of a rare form of exploding star, helping to shed light on one of the most cataclysmic events in the universe. At the end of their lives, most massive stars collapse into black holes—objects with gravity so strong that not even light can escape. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-gravitational-forbidden-zone-stellar-black.html Astronomy Wed, 01 Apr 2026 17:20:03 EDT news694274439 An astronomer at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo is using data from the Canada–France–Hawaiʻi Telescope (CFHT) on Maunakea to help reconstruct a slow-motion cosmic collision, one that has been unfolding for hundreds of millions of years. A new study from principal investigator R. Pierre Martin, a professor of astronomy at UH Hilo, and international researchers such as Ph.D. student Camille Poitras and colleagues at Université Laval in Québec, Canada, simulates the past, present, and future of two spiral galaxies, NGC 2207 and IC 2163. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-cosmic-collision-galaxies-maunakea-telescope.html Astronomy Wed, 01 Apr 2026 13:40:04 EDT news694260421 Using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST), Chinese astronomers have explored the behavior of a rotating radio transient (RRAT) known as RRAT J1574+4703. The new observations found that this object switches between RRAT and normal pulsar states. The finding was detailed in a paper published March 25 on the arXiv pre-print server. https://phys.org/news/2026-04-fast-peculiar-rotating-radio-transient.html Astronomy Wed, 01 Apr 2026 09:20:01 EDT news694252976 Historical observations from an observatory in Germany have now independently verified evidence for brief, mysterious flashes of light in the night sky, first picked up by an American astronomical survey in the 1950s. Through fresh analysis of a German survey from the same period, independent researcher Ivo Busko, a now-retired developer at NASA, has uncovered striking new support for these puzzling signals. The results have been published as a preprint on arXiv. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-unexplained-sky-1950s-independent-analysis.html Astronomy Wed, 01 Apr 2026 09:00:05 EDT news694169460 A Southwest Research Institute-led study found that protons and heavy ions react differently to solar magnetic reconnection events, revealing a more complex magnetic engine powering the solar wind. Magnetic reconnection converts magnetic energy into explosive kinetic energy, powering solar events and causing space weather that impacts Earth. Magnetic reconnection energizes protons and heavy ions, sending them shooting out from the sun at high speeds. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-nasa-probe-complex-sun-magnetic.html Astronomy Tue, 31 Mar 2026 18:40:03 EDT news694189621 A Mississippi State physicist has produced a direct laboratory measurement of a key nuclear reaction believed to occur during explosive bursts on neutron stars. These bursts forge heavier elements—the building blocks of planets and life on Earth. The findings appear in The Astrophysical Journal. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-physicist-recreates-neutron-star-reaction.html Astronomy Tue, 31 Mar 2026 17:10:08 EDT news694194241 A team of University of Florida researchers used the James Webb Space Telescope to capture photos of a star-forming region known as W51 with never-before-seen clarity and resolution. The long wavelengths of JWST's infrared technology allowed astronomers to see the stars clearly and show what was previously hidden. Stars in the W51 region are very young and massive, and using the telescope gave the team the ability to view the early stages of star formation. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-webb-reveals-hidden-w51-star.html Astronomy Tue, 31 Mar 2026 13:00:04 EDT news694171210 Astronomers from Egypt and Turkey have conducted a comprehensive analysis of kinematic, structural, and astrophysical parameters of a nearby open cluster known as NGC 2168. Results of the new study, published March 23 on the arXiv preprint server, put more constraints on the properties of this cluster. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-gaia-analysis-messier-larger-older.html Astronomy Tue, 31 Mar 2026 11:40:04 EDT news694149944 Utilizing the stellar evolution code named Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA), Chinese astronomers have investigated the evolution of a recently discovered ultra-compact double white dwarf binary system known as ATLAS J1138-5139. Results of this study, published March 20 on the arXiv pre-print server, allowed the researchers to determine the fate of this system. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-astronomers-fate-white-dwarf-binary.html Astronomy Tue, 31 Mar 2026 08:00:01 EDT news694081925 Astronomers have discovered an exceptionally rare radio galaxy that has three distinct pairs of radio lobes. This system falls into a subpopulation of radio galaxies known as "triple-double" radio galaxies (TDRGs). Located nearly 7.5 billion light-years away, this unique system, cataloged as J022248−060934, is only the seventh known example of its kind. A paper outlining this discovery was published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society on February 25. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-rare-triple-radio-galaxy-meerkat.html Astronomy Mon, 30 Mar 2026 10:40:01 EDT news694081956 Astronomers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and elsewhere report the discovery of a binary system consisting of two brown dwarfs undergoing stable mass transfer. The detection of the system, designated ZTF J1239+8347, was made with the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) and is detailed in a paper published March 18 in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-ztf-mass-brown-dwarf-binary.html Astronomy Sun, 29 Mar 2026 15:00:03 EDT news693734619 Using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an international team of astronomers has discovered an extrasolar planet orbiting TOI-4616—a nearby M-dwarf star. The newfound alien world, which received designation TOI-4616 b, is slightly larger than Earth. The finding was reported in a research paper published March 11 on the arXiv pre-print server. https://phys.org/news/2026-03-tess-earth-sized-planet-orbiting.html Astronomy Sun, 29 Mar 2026 13:50:01 EDT news693564728