Stars are gravitationally fastened to their galaxies and move in concert with their surroundings. But sometimes, something breaks the bond. If a star gets too close to a supermassive black hole, for example, the black hole ...
Planetary Sciences
Nov 27, 2023
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Astrophysicists working with the JWST have found a surprising amount of metal in a galaxy only 350 million years after the Big Bang. How does that fit in with our understanding of the universe?
Astronomy
Nov 22, 2023
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134
Since it became operational almost two years ago, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has produced countless breathtaking images of the universe and enabled fresh insights into how it evolved.
Astronomy
Nov 7, 2023
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48
The swirling arms of a spiral galaxy are among the most recognized features in the cosmos: long sweeping bands spun off from a central core, each brimming with dust, gas, and dazzling pockets of newly formed stars. Yet this ...
Astronomy
Oct 25, 2023
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131
Bright blue spiral arms twist around the bright-white center of this starry galaxy. This new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image features NGC 6951, an intermediate spiral galaxy 78 million light-years away in the Cepheus constellation.
Astronomy
Oct 5, 2023
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Astronomers have made a thorough forensic study of a star that was torn apart when it ventured too close to a giant black hole and then had its insides tossed out into space.
Astronomy
Aug 22, 2023
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Nearly every galaxy in the universe contains a supermassive black hole. Even galaxies that are billions of light years away. This means supermassive black holes form early in the development of a galaxy. They are possibly ...
Astronomy
Aug 10, 2023
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49
The universe is humming with gravitational radiation—a very low-frequency rumble that rhythmically stretches and compresses spacetime and the matter embedded in it.
Astronomy
Aug 9, 2023
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The first stars of the universe were very different than the stars we see today. They were made purely of hydrogen and helium, without heavier elements to help them generate energy in their core. As a result, they were likely ...
Astronomy
Jun 26, 2023
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84
An international team of astronomers has drawn a temperature map of the dust drifting within one of the oldest spiral galaxies of the universe which provides new insights into how fast the galaxy is growing. Until now researchers ...
Astronomy
Jun 22, 2023
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