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Articles on Astronomy

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ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, A. Martel

Why is the sky dark at night? The 200-year history of a question that transformed our understanding of the Universe

The darkness of the night sky seems so obvious as to need no explanation – yet it has intrigued and baffled scientists for centuries.
New research shows that the destructive merging of a star and a planet expels huge amounts of gas, as shown in this artist’s impression. K. Miller/R. Hurt (Caltech/IPAC)

Astronomers just saw a star eat a planet – an astrophysicist on the team explains the first-of-its-kind discovery

Stars begin to expand when they run out of fuel and can become thousands of times larger, consuming any planets in the way. For the first time, astronomers have witnessed one such event.
‘Earthrise,’ a photo of the Earth taken by Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders, Dec. 4, 1968. NASA/Bill Anders via Wikipedia

Will the Earth last forever?

The Earth isn’t permanent, but it was here for four billion years before humans arrived and should be here for several billion more.
A diagram of a lunar eclipse from De Sphaera Mundi by Johannes de Sacrobosco, c. 1240 AD. New York Public Library

‘Like blood, then turned into darkness’: how medieval manuscripts link lunar eclipses, volcanoes and climate change

Medieval monks recorded hundreds of lunar eclipses. Centuries later, their descriptions are helping scientists unravel the role of volcanoes in historical climate change.

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