Galaxy

Earth’s seasons change as we orbit the Sun – but can the climate also be affected by the solar system’s changing position in the Milky Way? A new study suggests an ice age about two million years ago may have been triggered by an interstellar winter.

Despite a century of searching, dark matter remains a no-show. A new paper proposes an alternative hypothesis, showing how gravity could exist without mass and produce many of the same effects we ascribe to dark matter.

The 7th annual Milky Way Photographer of the Year collection has been released, featuring more stunning shots of our home galaxy, contrasted against our home planet. This year’s gallery is sure to inspire awe and just a touch of existential dread.

The James Webb Space Telescope has captured direct images of galaxies being born at the cosmic dawn. This is the first time this has ever been witnessed by astronomers, confirming models for galaxy formation.

Astronomers have produced the largest 3D map of the universe, including an interactive VR video. In the process, they’ve uncovered some tantalizing hints that our understanding of physics, including the ultimate fate of the cosmos, could be wrong.

We’ve all regretted taking too long to make a move, but at least it wasn't 3 billion years. That’s how long the sexual tension has been building between two slow-dancing supermassive black holes, whose eventual congress could rock the entire universe.

NASA has officially selected a new mission – the Ultraviolet Explorer, or UVEX. By scanning the skies in UV light, it will be able to study the hottest objects and fleeting events like supernovae, and create a detailed new map of the cosmos.

A supermassive monster lurks at the center of our galaxy, and astronomers have now discovered that it’s spinning so fast it’s warping the very fabric of spacetime into a football shape.

Astronomers have mapped out half the universe in X-ray light, using a space telescope called eROSITA. The new map, which contains almost a million X-ray sources, is the basis of dozens of new scientific papers, with many more to come.

Astronomers have discovered the most distant – and therefore earliest – known black hole. Hiding in a galaxy called GN-z11, this black hole is bigger than should be possible given the age of the universe.

Astronomers have discovered a colossal cosmic structure that’s so big it threatens our entire understanding of the universe. The Big Ring spans about 3% of the radius of the observable universe – and it might be part of an ever bigger structure.

It’s not often that space throws something entirely new at you, but in 2019 astronomers discovered a completely unknown phenomenon they called odd radio circles (ORCs). Now, more data may have revealed just how these rare objects form.