Watery, rocky planets may be common in the Milky Way

(PhysOrg.com) -- An international team of astronomers have discovered compelling evidence that rocky planets are commonplace in our Galaxy. Leicester University scientist and lead researcher Dr Jay Farihi surveyed white dwarfs, ...

Scientists capture 'terrifying' Tolkien-like eclipse (w/ Video)

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have captured a 'terrifying' image of a giant Goliath-like star undergoing a two year eclipse. First discovered by a German astronomer 180 years ago, it is the first close-up image of an eclipse ...

Ticking stellar time bomb identified (w/ Video)

(PhysOrg.com) -- "One of the major problems in modern astrophysics is the fact that we still do not know exactly what kinds of stellar system explode as a Type Ia supernova," says Patrick Woudt, from the University of Cape ...

Living fossils hold record of 'supermassive' kick

The tight cluster of stars surrounding a supermassive black hole after it has been violently kicked out of a galaxy represents a new kind of astronomical object and a fossil record of the kick.

Triply eclipsing stellar systems

Stars with the mass of the sun or larger are typically accompanied by one or more orbiting companion stars. The system forms when gravity contracts the gas and dust of an interstellar cloud until clumps develop that are dense ...

A wandering star disrupts the stellar nursery

From a zoomed out, distant view, star-forming cloud L483 appears normal. But when a Northwestern University-led team of astrophysicists zoomed in closer and closer, things became weirder and weirder.

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