Stars

Supermassive black holes create turbulent environments at the centers of galaxies, which should disrupt star formation. But astronomers have peered closer at the heart of the Milky Way and found several “stellar eggs” – and they seem to be hatching.

Astronomers have discovered the aftermath of a cosmic hit-and-run in our own neighborhood. While studying the closest star cluster to the Sun, ESA scientists realized it may have been disrupted by a huge lump of invisible mass, possibly dark matter.

Fresh research has cast doubt on the theory that energetic outbursts from young stars blows away the cocoon of gas from which they formed, which in turn prevents them from growing any further.

How exactly supermassive black holes got so big remains a mystery, but a new study suggests they may have been born from supernovae of hypothetical, primordial stars far bigger than any around today. And we might soon be able to detect the leftovers.

Scientists have made a breakthrough in the way we study this plasma, managing to trap an ultracold form of it in a magnetic "bottle" for the first time, an achievement that could act as a springboard for research into nuclear fusion energy.

Last year gravitational waves were detected from a massive black hole collision. But now astrophysicists propose a new explanation: a collision of two boson stars – hypothetical, invisible objects that could help untangle the mystery of dark matter.

Massive galaxies may be siphoning off star forming material from the very hearts of smaller satellite galaxies, causing the cosmic structures to stagnate and essentially cease evolving, as their larger cousins continue to grow.

Astronomers using Hubble to hunt for an elusive type of black hole have stumbled onto a weirder scene. In the center of a nearby globular cluster, they discovered what looks like a whole gang of small black holes being uncharacteristically chummy.

Astronomers have identified the remains of a rare type of supernova in our home galaxy for the first time. These events, known as Type Iax supernovae, occur when white dwarfs explode and may leave behind a “zombie star.”

Astronomers have discovered a nearby system of exoplanets with unusually orderly orbits but disordered densities. Five of the six planets circle the star in a rare rhythmic dance called a resonance chain, while their densities are weirdly shuffled.

Astronomers have detected a strange signal coming from neutron stars that could be a new elementary particle. An unexplained excess of X-rays hints at axions, hypothetical “ghost” particles that could solve several long-standing physics puzzles.

The gravitational waves we’ve detected so far have been like tsunamis in the spacetime sea. Now, a 13-year survey of light from pulsars scattered across the galaxy may have revealed the first hints of gentle gravitational wave background signals.