https://phys.org/space-news/astronomy/ en-us The latest science news on astronomy, space, and astrophysics. University of Warwick astronomers have shown that white dwarf stars can glow in a range of colors, including the first star ever found that would appear green to the human eye. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-green-pink-purple-astronomers-reveal.html Astronomy Wed, 14 Oct 2026 20:10:01 EDT news711185462 Astronomers have found two actively feeding supermassive black holes separated by just 175 parsecs (570 light-years) in a galaxy seen when the universe was only about 2 billion years old. The system, MG B2016+112, lies at a redshift of 3.273 and is the most compact dual AGN known at this redshift. The study was posted to the arXiv preprint server on Sept. 25. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-evidence-black-holes-parsecs-lurking.html Astronomy Wed, 14 Oct 2026 09:40:17 EDT news711113832 Turbulence is ubiquitous and occurs every day, such as when milk is stirred into coffee or in the stormy motions of the ocean and the atmosphere. Media in space and astrophysical systems can also develop turbulence, but the physics is different because the medium is in an ionized state (known as the plasma state) and the flow motion is strongly coupled to electromagnetic fields. Furthermore, space plasma is collisionless because the medium is so dilute that the particles do not collide with each other. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-unstructured-phenomenon-solar.html Astronomy Tue, 13 Oct 2026 11:20:06 EDT news711102781 The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has detected a possible supernova in the early universe just days after the star exploded. Called AT 2026abck, the transient lies in a star-forming galaxy at a redshift of 5.017 and was found without the help of gravitational lensing. JWST observations suggest the event was caught only about four to 10 days after the explosion. The paper was posted to the arXiv preprint server on Sept. 29. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-webb-early-universe-supernova-days.html Astronomy Tue, 13 Oct 2026 10:50:01 EDT news711104454 Analyzing a sample of 300 of the best-characterized planetary systems among the more than 1,000 known in the Milky Way, an international research team led by the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) has discovered that the multiplanet systems identified so far belong to two distinct "families." https://phys.org/news/2026-10-planetary-reveal-distinct-families-host.html Astronomy Tue, 13 Oct 2026 10:20:46 EDT news711101281 The speed of an asteroid's spin can tell astronomers a surprising amount about what it is made of. However, existing approaches to measuring spin based on telescope observations can often produce misleading estimates. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-vera-rubin-observatory-largest-ultra.html Astronomy Tue, 13 Oct 2026 07:40:07 EDT news711030463 For many years, the simplest view of dark energy has been that it remains unchanged. Throughout cosmic history, the mysterious ingredient believed to drive the universe's accelerated expansion is thought to have behaved in the same way at every epoch. However, an increasing number of observations are challenging this idea. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-alternative-gravity-theory-explanation-dark.html Astronomy Mon, 12 Oct 2026 13:40:14 EDT news711029618 Astronomers have used radio observations from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to catch a dying star in the middle of a dramatic transformation, and the data show a ring that records its final outburst. The new research was posted to the arXiv preprint server on Sept. 18. The paper has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-alma-dying-star-mid-outburst.html Astronomy Mon, 12 Oct 2026 11:00:49 EDT news711014745 A Jupiter-sized world just 7.5 light-years away is cloudy, chemically complex and, it turns out, more like home than anyone expected. Using the James Webb Space Telescope, Brittany Miles, assistant astronomer at the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory, led a team that spent 11 hours staring at WISE 0855, the coldest known brown dwarf, collecting a spectrum of its light every 15 minutes. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-discovery-variable-clouds-solar.html Astronomy Fri, 09 Oct 2026 14:20:12 EDT news710767022 When a dying star runs out of fuel and sheds its outer layers, its remaining core can become an approximately Earth-sized, extremely dense stellar remnant called a white dwarf. For a white dwarf that is not strongly rotating or magnetized, there is a well-known upper mass limit of about 1.4 times the mass of the sun, known as the Chandrasekhar limit. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-strong-magnetic-fields-white-dwarfs.html Astronomy Fri, 09 Oct 2026 13:20:19 EDT news710766601 NASA's SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the universe, Epoch of Reionization, and ices Explorer) space telescope is shedding light on brown dwarfs, celestial objects that blur the line between stars and exoplanets. New findings published in The Astrophysical Journal show that these dark and cloudy worlds have chemically rich atmospheres not unlike the giant planets in our own solar system. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-spherex-menagerie-brown-dwarfs-atmospheric.html Astronomy Fri, 09 Oct 2026 09:20:05 EDT news710755921 Astronomers have detected and traced the most distant fast radio burst ever recorded, a powerful flash of radio waves that traveled for more than 10 billion years across the cosmos before reaching Earth. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-astronomers-distant-fast-radio.html Astronomy Thu, 08 Oct 2026 14:00:36 EDT news710612761 Using data from the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys, with help from artificial intelligence, an international team of scientists has discovered 70 new gravitational lenses—rare cosmic alignments that act as natural magnifying glasses. The new lenses further expand one of the largest collections of confirmed lenses to date and will allow scientists to study dark matter, galaxy evolution and the structure of the universe. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-largest-2d-universe-scientists-gravitational.html Astronomy Thu, 08 Oct 2026 09:40:12 EDT news710669701 The European Space Agency–led Solar Orbiter spacecraft has flown through an S-shaped kink known as a "switchback" in the solar wind's magnetic field. By fingerprinting the elusive particles within the switchback, Solar Orbiter has traced its origin back to the sun's surface and revealed more about solar magnetism—the unruly instigator of dangerous solar storms. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-solar-orbiter-tracks-mysterious-magnetic.html Astronomy Thu, 08 Oct 2026 05:00:10 EDT news710588161 An undergraduate astrophysics student at UC Berkeley has found three unusual galaxies—cataloged as Shapiro Dwarf Galaxies I, II and III. Each galaxy is far from other galaxies and has stopped making stars, a combination that is extremely rare. The discovery, published in The Astrophysical Journal, provides compelling observational evidence of a long-held astronomical theory. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-undergraduate-student-puzzle-isolated-galaxies.html Astronomy Wed, 07 Oct 2026 17:20:11 EDT news710603101 Astronomers have confirmed a powerful radio galaxy from nearly 12.5 billion years ago. The source, TXS 2354+015, was originally identified as a high-redshift candidate from its characteristic drop in optical light, and follow-up spectroscopy placed it at a redshift of 4.946. Their paper was posted to the arXiv preprint server on Sept. 23. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-radio-galaxy-billion-years-powerful.html Astronomy Wed, 07 Oct 2026 15:40:10 EDT news710589777 An international team of astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), of which the U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a partner (NSF NRAO), has combined expertise from across the globe to open a new window on how the organic molecules that seed planets, and potentially life, form in space. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-alcohol-space-exotic-methanol-planet.html Astronomy Wed, 07 Oct 2026 10:40:18 EDT news710587401 The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has unveiled numerous stars formerly hidden by clouds of dust in a stellar nursery known as NGC 7129—a cauldron of cosmic creation, 3,300 light-years from Earth. Webb captured infrared light, which pierces through the dense matter that scatters or absorbs other types of light. This region, rife with stellar objects in different stages of their lives, offers an opportunity to explore how stars shape their surroundings. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-webb-captures-commotion-nebula-stellar.html Astronomy Tue, 06 Oct 2026 13:40:01 EDT news710501821 Astronomers have observed the longest-lasting central engine activity ever recorded from a gamma-ray burst. The burst occurred at a redshift of 0.8577, and the activity lasted about 27 days in the burst's own rest frame—around 20 days longer than the previous record. The paper, posted to the arXiv preprint server on Sept. 18, explores different mechanisms that could be powering this puzzling burst. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-gamma-ray-stayed-month-previous.html Astronomy Tue, 06 Oct 2026 13:20:14 EDT news710505906 Evidence for hypernovae, theorized to be the most powerful explosions in the universe, has been disputed in two papers by University College London (UCL) researchers. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-unusual-stars-owe-hypernovae.html Astronomy Tue, 06 Oct 2026 12:20:17 EDT news710499782 The only known supernova remnant of its kind in the Milky Way has an unexpectedly intricate structure: chains of gas knots resembling pearls on a string, each wide enough to fit the solar system multiple times. Using the Gemini North telescope, an international team co-led by Ilaria Caiazzo, assistant professor at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), captured the most detailed view yet of Pa 30, revealing striking new features of the remnant associated with a historical supernova witnessed nearly 850 years ago. The findings are published in The Astrophysical Journal. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-images-unique-supernova-remnant-reveal.html Astronomy Tue, 06 Oct 2026 12:00:18 EDT news710494434 Earth seems like a troubled place right now, but at least our cosmic surroundings appear peaceful. This is not universally true, as explosions, collisions and other dangers lurk in other places and times. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-life-cosmos-universe-supercomputer-yields.html Astronomy Tue, 06 Oct 2026 10:40:29 EDT news710498341 The universe may be trapped in its own comfort zone, and a researcher in the College of Engineering and Computer Science has helped explain why it cannot seem to leave. A new study suggests the universe could be locked into its current state by the same kinds of quantum effects that scientists study when trying to preserve fragile information inside a quantum computer. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-quantum-interactions-early-universe-fields.html Astronomy Mon, 05 Oct 2026 18:20:09 EDT news710425308 Like Earth, most planetary bodies circle their star in stable, detached orbits. These companionable systems can suddenly change when a planet comes too close to its star. In such a close encounter, a star can pull the planet in and swallow it whole. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-astronomers-star-slowly-snacking-brown.html Astronomy Mon, 05 Oct 2026 16:40:16 EDT news710425861 Primordial black holes (PBHs) don't exist as far as we know. But if they did, these hypothetical objects would have formed in the early universe rather than from dying stars, and they may even make up dark matter. That's not the end of the weirdness. Their formation could have been even stranger if it occurred in a universe with a dark dimension, which is another theoretical construct. It posits that our space includes a hidden extra spatial dimension. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-tiny-ancient-black-holes-dimensional.html Astronomy Mon, 05 Oct 2026 12:40:16 EDT news710412892 Astronomers have discovered the first example of a second-generation planet orbiting a white dwarf, a world that appears to have formed from the remains of the dead star it now orbits. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-phoenix-planet-astronomers-world-reborn.html Astronomy Mon, 05 Oct 2026 11:00:15 EDT news710162342 Dark matter could be a type of matter in the universe that does not emit, absorb or reflect detectable light and appears to interact very weakly with regular matter. Although physicists have observed gravitational effects attributed to dark matter, they have not yet been able to determine what it is made of. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-gamma-ray-limits-dark-annihilation.html Astronomy Sun, 04 Oct 2026 15:20:01 EDT news709978528 An international team of astronomers, including researchers from the Department of Physics and the Hong Kong Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics (HKIAA) at The University of Hong Kong (HKU), has discovered a previously hidden phase of high-energy activity following the merger of compact stars. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-hidden-ray-phase-revealed-neutron.html Astronomy Sun, 04 Oct 2026 13:00:02 EDT news710002099 In the early days of the universe, our home looked very different from how it does today. Back then, the region in our universe that would eventually become our Milky Way neighborhood was a collection of thousands of smaller galaxies—some pumping out tons of new stars, others filled only with gas or littered with dead stars and black holes. https://phys.org/news/2026-09-milky-begun-thousands-galaxies-simulations.html Astronomy Sat, 03 Oct 2026 09:00:07 EDT news710002132 Astronomers analyzed 2,435 galaxies hosting actively feeding black holes using data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). Among them, they identified 546 "bulgeless" galaxies—systems with little or no central stellar bulge. Their paper, published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, suggests that galaxies without a central bulge grow black holes just as effectively as galaxies that have one—a surprising sign that black holes don't need galaxy mergers to grow normally. https://phys.org/news/2026-10-black-holes-quietly-galaxies-violent.html Astronomy Fri, 02 Oct 2026 15:20:02 EDT news710150297