https://phys.org/ en-us Latest news from Astrophysical Journal A popular myth about black holes is that they act like giant cosmic vacuum cleaners, sucking in everything around them. But Wladimir Lyra's research found a new mechanism around supermassive black holes that is more like a cosmic nursery, giving birth to planets more massive than Jupiter. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-supermassive-black-holes-massive-planets.html Astronomy Thu, 13 Aug 2026 09:11:08 EDT news705831033 For more than two decades, the quasar PHL 1811 has been considered the prototype of a rare class of "intrinsically X-ray weak" quasars, thought to produce unusually little X-ray radiation. But in 2024, the Einstein Probe spacecraft caught the object in a bright X-ray flare. In a new study, astronomers combined that observation with more than 20 years of archival data to revisit the mystery. The findings were published in The Astrophysical Journal on July 28. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-famous-oddball-quasar-isnt-ray.html Astronomy Wed, 12 Aug 2026 12:40:01 EDT news705745952 Like a collage made of layered sheets of colored cellophane, a vibrant new image layers observations of a famous star-forming nebula from NASA's space telescopes. The resulting cosmic "craft" reveals new details about the star-forming region known as 30 Doradus, or the Tarantula Nebula. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-energy-loss-routes-tarantula-nebula.html Astronomy Tue, 11 Aug 2026 16:50:01 EDT news705681362 On Mother's Day weekend in May 2024, Earth experienced its most powerful geomagnetic storm in two decades, spawning auroras—the ribbony bands of light in the nighttime skies in the Northern and Southern hemispheres—that may have been among the strongest displays on record in the past 500 years. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-physicists-solar-outbursts-historic-mother.html Astronomy Fri, 07 Aug 2026 09:00:04 EDT news705227342 Astronomers have found evidence that one of the most massive white dwarfs known has an oxygen-neon core instead of the more common carbon-oxygen core. The finding is important because the composition of a white dwarf's core determines how it will evolve. A paper outlining this discovery was published in The Astrophysical Journal. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-ultramassive-white-dwarf-earth-size.html Astronomy Fri, 07 Aug 2026 08:00:01 EDT news705228617 Astronomers have speculated about the mysterious "little red dots" seen through the James Webb Space Telescope's images of the early universe: They could be galaxies, black holes, quasi-stars, starbursts ... or something else entirely. https://phys.org/news/2026-08-red-dots-pulsating-monster-stars.html Astronomy Wed, 05 Aug 2026 14:40:01 EDT news705151083 Since their discovery by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope in 2022, little red dots (LRDs) have been the subject of great interest to astronomers. Understanding the nature of these extremely distant, compact red sources has been a puzzling scientific endeavor. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-red-dots-temporary-black-hole.html Astronomy Wed, 29 Jul 2026 15:10:01 EDT news704551076 A new study using data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope finds that star formation in the nearby Andromeda galaxy has undergone a 500-million-year decline, with an even steeper drop in the last 40 million years. Andromeda, a spiral galaxy comparable in size to our Milky Way, is close enough to be seen with the unaided eye from areas with dark skies. Located about 2.5 million light-years from Earth—practically our cosmic backyard—Andromeda offers an opportunity for astronomers to examine its stellar populations in detail, leading to a better understanding of the past of galaxies like our own. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-hubble-star-formation-andromeda-galaxy.html Astronomy Mon, 27 Jul 2026 17:20:09 EDT news704382061 "Dead stars" known as white dwarfs have already shown the potential to help us better understand how planetary systems, including our own solar system, take shape and evolve. Now, research from the University of Michigan and the University of Colorado Boulder suggests that potential could be even greater than anticipated. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-dead-stars-healthy-appetites.html Astronomy Mon, 27 Jul 2026 15:40:03 EDT news704380621 Quasars, distant cores of galaxies powered by supermassive black holes, are among the most luminous objects in the universe. While not uncommon, their brightness can make it difficult to accurately measure the galaxies they reside in. This means scientists must use gravitational lensing to assist in analyzing these bright objects, a method that relies on studying how an object's strong gravity bends light around its host galaxy. Yet despite their own powerful gravity, quasars that can act as lenses are rare. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-quasar-lenses-emerge-ai-scan.html Astronomy Mon, 27 Jul 2026 15:20:07 EDT news704377501 The Whirlpool galaxy (M51) is a classic grand spiral galaxy. It was the first object identified as a spiral, way back in 1845. At the time, it and other galaxies were considered spiral nebulae, since astronomers didn't know other galaxies existed. Edwin Hubble finally proved that there were other galaxies in the early 1920s. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-astronomers-galaxy-spiral-arms.html Astronomy Wed, 22 Jul 2026 10:20:01 EDT news703930263 Cosmic rays are made primarily of protons with a few electrons sprinkled in, and they can reach energies even higher than what human-made accelerators can produce. Considering human-made accelerators, such as the Large Hadron Collider on the border of Switzerland and France, can move protons to near the speed of light, it's no wonder that these super-energetic particles can influence cosmic events across the galaxy. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-source-extremely-high-energy-particles.html Astronomy Fri, 17 Jul 2026 11:00:02 EDT news703496913 How do black holes at the centers of galaxies form and grow over time? To answer this question, scientists need to detect and study supermassive black holes at great distances that existed much earlier in the universe's history. New research suggests NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which is on track to launch Aug. 30, 2026, will be able to detect these distant, ancient black holes that existed up to 11 billion years ago. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-roman-telescope-distant-black-holes.html Astronomy Tue, 14 Jul 2026 15:20:06 EDT news703254967 The planets that appear most common in the universe could have a lot of water—but it could be hiding where telescopes can't detect it, according to a new study led by scientists with the University of Chicago. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-distant-exoplanets-webb-telescope.html Astronomy Mon, 13 Jul 2026 14:00:01 EDT news703166987 For the first time, scientists have used NASA's IXPE (Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer) to directly measure the magnetic fields of PSR J1101−6101, a pulsar located within what is often referred to as the Lighthouse Nebula. The results provide new insight into the structure of some of the most extreme objects in the cosmos, as NASA continues to explore the secrets of how the universe works. A paper describing the results was published Thursday in The Astrophysical Journal. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-nasa-space-telescope-magnetic-fields.html Astronomy Fri, 10 Jul 2026 12:00:03 EDT news702896131 For the first time, astronomers have discovered stellar cocoons rich in complex organic molecules within a supernova remnant. A research team from Niigata University, Gifu University, RIKEN and Kyoto University in Japan used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to observe the remnant of a massive star that exploded about 1,600 years ago. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-newborn-stars-rich-gas-ancient.html Astronomy Thu, 09 Jul 2026 11:50:01 EDT news702814502 An international team led by Stefanie Komossa from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) in Bonn has studied a galaxy that has been shining exceptionally brightly in the radio regime for more than eight years. Although it is only 1.8 billion light-years away from us, the central black hole in the galaxy exhibits properties typical of the early universe. New observations and archival data suggest that, for several years now, more matter has been falling into the black hole, triggering a high-energy particle jet. The discovery enables researchers to better understand the formation of jets and the growth of black holes in the early universe. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-nearby-black-hole-window-early.html Astronomy Sun, 05 Jul 2026 12:00:01 EDT news702290122 Short-lived sources of radio radiation in the sky, known as radio transients, can originate in the vicinity of supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies. They are the result of processes that take place under extreme physical conditions. While most radio transients associated with galactic centers last only days or weeks, the galaxy SDSS J110546.07+145202.4 has been shining very brightly in radio light for several years—the first source of its kind. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-radio-outburst-black-hole-properties.html Astronomy Fri, 03 Jul 2026 11:00:01 EDT news702290072 A researcher at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), a part of The University of Alabama System, has published a new study in The Astrophysical Journal suggesting that tiny charged dust grains near the sun may significantly influence how energy moves through the solar corona, the outer atmosphere of the sun. The discovery potentially rewrites how scientists understand why the corona is millions of degrees hotter than the surface of the sun itself. https://phys.org/news/2026-07-cosmic-play-key-role-mystery.html Astronomy Wed, 01 Jul 2026 18:40:05 EDT news702142262 Astronomers have, for the first time, found a source in the process of becoming a Little Red Dot, using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Little Red Dots are likely early galaxies and some of the most intriguing objects found with JWST at high redshifts. The team, led by Karina Caputi of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, announced the detection at the annual meeting of the European Astronomical Society (EAS 2026) in Lausanne, Switzerland. The result has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal. The paper is available on the arXiv preprint server. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-astronomers-enigmatic-source-red-dot.html Astronomy Tue, 30 Jun 2026 17:40:03 EDT news702042661 Using the Hobby-Eberly Telescope at McDonald Observatory, astronomers have taken a closer look at a nearby exoplanet and discovered it may be more Earth-like than previously thought. The planet, known as GJ 3378b, orbits a small, cool star called a red dwarf. Just 25 light-years from Earth in the direction of the northern constellation Camelopardalis, it lies in its star's "habitable zone"—the region where temperatures could allow liquid water to exist—making it a candidate to host life. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-nearby-super-earth-candidate-life.html Astrobiology Tue, 30 Jun 2026 13:50:01 EDT news702044402 Second only to black holes, neutron stars—incredibly dense star remnants—are the densest objects in the universe. When neutron stars collide, they create ripples in the fabric of space and time that we can detect on Earth. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-cataclysmic-collision-space-clues-astronomy.html Astronomy Tue, 30 Jun 2026 13:40:07 EDT news702033154 A new Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) study based on data from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has uncovered insights into why the solar wind gradually slows as it moves toward the edge of the solar system and the boundary with interstellar space. The study "The Gradual Slowing of the Solar Wind in the Outer Heliosphere" is published in The Astrophysical Journal. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-horizons-tracks-solar-slowdown-interstellar.html Astronomy Mon, 29 Jun 2026 19:20:31 EDT news701963730 Uranus and Neptune remain two of the most mysterious objects in the solar system, primarily because they have been visited only by NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1986 and 1989, respectively. Their "ice giant" moniker comes from longstanding hypotheses that their interiors are comprised of an icy mantle beneath their hydrogen-helium atmospheres. While Jupiter and Saturn are also composed primarily of hydrogen and helium, Uranus and Neptune are hypothesized to have a layered structure composed of icy elements in their interiors. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-uranus-neptune-magma-worlds-ice.html Planetary Sciences Fri, 26 Jun 2026 19:20:01 EDT news701682242 Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have found something they never expected—ultraviolet light from a galaxy that existed just 1.4 billion years after the Big Bang. That galaxy contains tightly clustered young stars that produce ionizing light capable of transforming the opaque, neutral gas within and immediately around the galaxy, clearing our view. This suggests that similar galaxies in the early universe were responsible for clearing the neutral fog of hydrogen gas that once filled the cosmos. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-hubble-early-galaxy-neighborhood-billion.html Astronomy Tue, 23 Jun 2026 17:20:06 EDT news701446185 Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) scientists are using a solar wind forecasting method combined with analytic and numerical heliosphere models to find out where the first plasma boundary of the outer heliosphere lies as NASA's New Horizons spacecraft hurtles toward this mysterious region of space. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-solar-heliosphere-boundaries.html Planetary Sciences Mon, 22 Jun 2026 18:10:01 EDT news701364782 Stars form when vast clouds of cold gas in space collapse under their own gravity. But not all gas collapses, and not all clouds form stars equally efficiently. A longstanding puzzle in astrophysics is what controls this process—and a leading suspect has been the role of magnetic fields, which thread through interstellar gas like an invisible scaffolding. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-astronomers-magnetic-skeleton-funneling-gas.html Astronomy Mon, 22 Jun 2026 16:20:09 EDT news701357221 Just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, the universe was a dark and simple place. There were no galaxies like the Milky Way, no planets, and no heavy elements such as carbon or oxygen. Instead, vast clouds of primordial hydrogen and helium drifted through space, slowly falling into invisible cocoons of dark matter known as "minihalos." Within these halos, the very first stars—called Population III stars—were born. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-primordial-halo-simulations-reveal-cosmic.html Astronomy Mon, 22 Jun 2026 12:20:06 EDT news701347681 Two U.S. physicists have suggested that the nine concentric rings surrounding the galaxy LEDA 1313424, also known as the Bullseye galaxy, could have emerged through the quantum behavior of particles of dark matter. Through analysis published in The Astrophysical Journal, Pierre Sikivie and Yuxin Zhao at the University of Florida argue that the extraordinary structure wasn't created by a collision between galaxies, as previous theories had suggested—but by a Bose-Einstein condensate of axions. https://phys.org/news/2026-06-ripple-bullseye-galaxy-dark.html Astronomy Thu, 18 Jun 2026 08:40:01 EDT news700990454 Dr. Shing-Chi Leung, assistant professor of physics at SUNY Polytechnic Institute, has published the article "Primordial Black Hole Triggered Type Ia Supernovae II: Comparison with Supernova Remnants and Galactic Chemical Evolution" in The Astrophysical Journal. The paper was co-authored by SUNY Poly student Seth Walther, a senior majoring in electrical and computer engineering and applied mathematics with a minor in physics; Alexander Kusenko (UCLA); Ken'ichi Nomoto (Kavli IPMU, recipient of the 2026 Shaw Prize in Astronomy and the 2026 Gruber Cosmology Prize); and Tomoharu Suzuki (Chubu University). https://phys.org/news/2026-06-supernova-explored-primordial-black-holes.html Astronomy Wed, 17 Jun 2026 15:20:06 EDT news700916762