Stars

Space is an exceptionally strange place, full of signals and observations that defy our understanding of the universe. In trying to explain these mysteries, sometimes astronomers hypothesize extremely exotic objects that we haven’t yet found.

Supernovae usually appear suddenly in the sky, but now astronomers have spotted one in advance. The telltale sign is a star with a “teardrop” shape, as it gets stretched out by the gravitational pull of a companion.

A bizarre star may have its origins in an extremely energetic event. Astronomers have found that a star with an unusual composition may have formed in the wake of a new type of hypernova – a stellar explosion with 10 times the energy of a supernova.

Astronomers have discovered the smallest but most massive white dwarf ever found. The tiny star is only the size of our Moon, but packs in more mass than the Sun, meaning it’s approaching the theoretical limit of what’s possible without exploding.

Astronomers have detected the final piece of the gravitational wave trifecta – a black hole swallowing a neutron star. Two separate events rolled in just days apart, with the black holes gobbling up the stars like Pac-Man rather than Cookie Monster.

In 2018 astronomers claimed to have found a galaxy that didn’t have any dark matter. The controversial study sparked a debate and raised new questions about cosmology. Now, the scientists say they've uncovered further evidence of the odd deficiency.

Astronomers say they’ve closed the case on the mysterious and unprecedented dimming of the supergiant star Betelgeuse in 2019 and 2020. A new study says that the event was caused by a combination of a big dust cloud and a drop in temperature.

Planets rotate, stars rotate, galaxies and galaxy clusters all rotate. Astronomers have now discovered evidence that larger scale structures of the universe also rotate – mind-bogglingly gigantic filaments that pipe galaxies around the cosmos.

Astronomers have used computer modeling to reveal the chaotic fate of a distant solar system in which the planets orbit in near perfect synchronization, and in the process shed light on how ancient white dwarfs become polluted with debris.

A new instrument has made a short jaunt to space, as part of a mission to measure the total light ever emitted in the universe’s history. CIBER-2 will search for stray stars between galaxies by monitoring the cosmic background glow of infrared light.

The majesty of the Milky Way shines away from the city. Travel blog Capture the Atlas has unveiled the latest edition of its annual Milky Way Photographer of the Year collection, showcasing stunning shots of our incredibly photogenic home galaxy.

The dual disk structure of our home galaxy may not be as unique as once thought, according to the results of a new study that probed the cross section of a spiral galaxy orbiting the Milky Way, some 320 million light years from Earth.