Universe Today

New observations find that a few supermassive black holes are unexpectedly large given the size of their galaxies. This suggests the connection between black holes and galaxies isn't as strong as we thought.

Halley’s comet captures the imagination in a way that few other astronomical objects do. When it last made its approach toward the Sun (admittedly when this author, who is now middle-aged, was one year old in 1986), humanity responded with a fleet of spacecraft known informally as the “Halley Armada”. Yet, because of the comet’s trajectory, those spacecraft were only able to visit their target for a fleeting few hours, leaving planetary scientists wanting more. Now, a new paper by researchers at

We know the universe is constantly expanding. We also know that gravitationally bound objects, such as solar systems and black holes, seem to be immune to that expansion. But a new paper, available in pre-print on arXiv by theoretical physicists Valerio Faraoni and Massimiliano Rinaldi challenges that assumption. They suggest that black holes can’t just ignore the expanding universe around them. Instead they have to expand along with it.

Say what you want about the changes to the space industry that’s happened over the past 10-20 years, but one thing is for certain - there are a lot more people that have access to space now than there ever has been before. Some of them have some absolutely crazy stories about how they got there, and plenty of those have written their own books about their experiences, before, during, and after their flight. Add to that list A Heart for Space by Dr. Eiman Jahangir - a cardiologist that officially

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again - space is hard. Another example, albeit lacking in the destructive displays of some past examples, is China’s recent delay of its Chang’e-7 lunar mission. The agency announced the mission would miss its late-August launch window with a very brief press release from the China National Space Administration and the China Manned Space Engineering Office. While that means a slight delay in China’s plan for the Moon, it’s only a matter of time before the c

A new image from NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory offers a spectacularly deep view into a famous region of sky known as the COSMOS field.

Gaia has discovered three stellar mass black holes, each with a small stellar companion. For two of these systems the companions orbit closer that we would expect. Just how these systems form is a bit of a mysteries, but there are clues.

Astronomers have directly detected an extremely faint radio signal from hydrogen gas billions of light years away, demonstrating a powerful new way to map the Universe.

Future gravitational wave observatories will be able to see the gravitational waves of close-orbiting binary stars. A newly studied white dwarf system could be one of the first systems we observe.

Out in the solar system, there is a giant rippling curtain of charged particles that is actually the largest structure in our solar system. Known as the Heliospheric Current Sheet (HCS), it marks the spot where the sun flips its magnetic north and south poles, and grows directly out of giant, glowing loops of plasma on its surface called helmet streamers. However, so far, studies of it have only occurred near Earth, using space-based instruments such as SoHo and Wind. But now, a new paper from K

The planet Venus is arguably the most mischievous planetary body in the solar system. This is because like Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, Venus is shrouded in a thick atmosphere that can’t be viewed with optical telescopes and require radar images to see the surface. Unlike Titan, whose atmosphere looks quite dull, Venus’s swirling and awe-inspiring clouds give observers the impression that its surface is covered in wonderous features. However, the truth is far from ideal, as Venus’s surface is a

The newest DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys map covers three-quarters of the sky and catalogs nearly four billion objects. This publicly-available database contains stars, galaxies, supernovae, gravitational lenses, and much more.

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) has officially launched its twentieth data release (DR20), featuring updated data from multiple observations projects.

Pulsar Timing Arrays have been used to observe the background of gravitational waves in our galaxy. We aren't certain of their origin, but a new study shows a strong source could be early supermassive giants known as dark stars.

Cross-disciplinary research at Perimeter Institute and University of Maryland shows that dark photons could be lurking in more places than previously thought.

The Moon is busy in September. Coming off of eclipse season in August, the Moon visits no less than two planets, two bright stars and one open cluster in September, as it heads towards the Full Harvest Moon of 2026 on September 26th. No matter where on Earth you happen to be observing from this month, chances are, there’s an occultation of a bright celestial object by the Moon coming to a sky near you.

In 1992, Centaur 450P/LONEOS had a close encounter with Saturn, shifting its orbit closer to the Sun. Now astronomers can observe how a small icy body transforms into a comet over time.

Researchers at UCSB and UT Austin have determined that a galactic merger kicked a supermassive black hole into intergalactic space.

Researchers have figured out how to use lunar samples to determine the nature of volcanic activity on ancient Mercury. It's all based on SiO2, or silicon dioxide. Its abundance in a planet's crust reveals a lot about magma and volcanic activity.

Astronomers study dark matter through simulations of stellar streams around the Milky Way. They found that kinks and clumps within these streams aren't caused by dark matter clusters within the galactic halo.