The universe is expanding faster than physicists would expect. To figure out what processes underlie this fast expansion rate, some researchers are first trying to rule out what processes can’t.
The stark landscape of the Moon as viewed by the Apollo 12 astronauts on their return to Earth.
NASA / The Planetary Society
Some dark craters on the Moon are never exposed to light − ice could be hiding in these permanently shadowed regions, and India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission marked a big step toward finding it.
A record-breaking discovery of an extreme ‘fast radio burst’ opens a window into the early universe.
Artists impression of what WASP-17b could look like, based on.
data gathered by Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) and other ground- and space-based
telescopes, including the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes.
NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)
Controlled experiments are impossible in astronomy, as are direct measurements of physical properties of objects outside our solar system. So how do astronomers know so much about them?
A visualisation of the huge, glowing planetary body produced by a planetary collision.
Mark Garlick
Measuring the ages of planets and stars is tricky. An observational astrophysicist describes the subtle clues that provide good estimates for how old different space objects are.
Massive flashes of energy known as ‘fast radio bursts’ have puzzled astronomers for years – and a new search for links to gravitational waves has so far found no connection.
An artist’s impression of the Square Kilometre Array Observatory, the largest of its kind in the world.
(SKAO)
Canada’s partnership in the world’s largest radio telescope, located in South Africa and Australia, creates new opportunities for research, but the benefits go beyond astronomy.
Planetary analogues are sites on Earth that are so extreme that they replicate those of celestial bodies in our solar system.
NASA’s UAP study team and newly appointed director of UAP research represent growing efforts to study and declassify UFO-related data.
AP Photo/Terry Renn
Months after a military officer made sensational claims about unexplained objects in the skies, NASA released a report loosely outlining a scientific approach for analyzing UAP reports.
There’s a chance Nishimura might brighten unexpectedly – but it’s a slim one.
The exoplanet K2-18b might host a water ocean.
Credits: Illustration: NASA, CSA, ESA, J. Olmsted (STScI), Science: N. Madhusudhan (Cambridge University)
An astronomer and ‘black hole historian’ explains how the parts of the universe black holes grow in might influence how quickly they become bright, supermassive objects.