Some stars travel at high speeds through the universe and sometimes leave spectacular clouds of dust and gas in their wake.
NASA, ESA and R. Sahai (NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
Hypervelocity stars were discovered only 15 years ago and are the closest things in existence to real shooting stars. They travel at millions of miles per hour, so fast that they can escape from galaxies.
An artist’s impression of the Double Pulsar system in which the two pulsars orbit each other every 2.5 hours and send out high-energy beams that sweep across the sky.
Image credit: John Rowe Animations/CSIRO
Such a mission could be developed soon, allowing astrophysicists to take selfies of the solar system and use the Sun’s gravity as a lens to peer deep into space.
Artist’s rendition of the Jupiter-like planet and its white dwarf star.
W. M. Keck Observatory/Adam Makarenko
In 5 billion years the Sun will collapse. A new discovery suggest some planets may still survive afterwards.
The James Webb Space Telescope is the biggest orbital telescope ever built and is scheduled to be launched into space on Dec. 18, 2021.
NASA/Desiree Stover
The largest orbital telescope ever made will allow astronomers to study the atmospheres of alien planets, learn about how stars form in the Milky Way and peer into the farthest reaches of the universe.
The universe has a finite age — 13.8 billion years to be exact. So if it had a beginning, why is it so difficult to say for sure whether it will have an end?
It can stretch your mind to ponder what’s really out there.
Stijn Dijkstra/EyeEm via Getty Images
Fast radio bursts are the focus of a young and fascinating field of astronomy. Researchers just released data on more than 500 new bursts, quadrupling the total number of detected events.
A galaxy 320 million light-years away has a surprisingly similar structure to the Milky Way, suggesting our galaxy isn’t as unique as it once seemed to astronomers.
Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the solar system and is home to a potentially habitable planet.
Hubble/European Space Agency/WikimediaCommons
Astronomers just measured the largest flare ever from Proxima Centauri, humanity’s closest neighboring star. These flares could be bad news for life trying to develop on a planet orbiting the star.
A man is arrested during a protest against Hong Kong’s National Security Law in July 2020.
Miguel Candela/EPA
A small add-on to existing gravitational wave detectors could reveal what happens to matter as it becomes a black hole, a process like the big bang in reverse.
Large radio telescope dish in Arecibo national observatory.
Shutterstock/photospirit
The 2020 Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science have recognised momentous achievements in astrophysics, sustainability innovation, epigenetics and primary and secondary teaching excellence.