Stars

Astronomers have released one of the biggest data dumps of the Milky Way ever, cataloging an incredible 3.32 billion cosmic objects in detail. The end result is a gigantic image that can be zoomed in and out for a stunning sense of scale.

Models of the universe predict that supernova remnants should be far more common than they are. Now, a new image from sensitive radio telescopes reveal that the missing remnants are hiding in plain sight.

What was once thought to be just one star is actually two. What's more, the two stars are so close that they've broken a record for being the tightest ultracool binary system ever observed, revolving around each other in less than an Earth day.

The universe is full of bizarre objects, and now astronomers have discovered a doozy – superheavy neutron stars that existed for only fractions of a second, before they collapsed into black holes.

In 2022, decades of work finally came to fruition as the James Webb Space Telescope focused its powerful eyes on the universe. From distant galaxies to our nearby neighbors, let’s look back at some of the most impressive images captured so far.

Astronomers have spotted an incredibly bright flash of light beaming halfway across the universe. The strange light was estimated to throw off more light than one quadrillion Suns, and in an ironic twist came from one of the darkest objects possible.

The James Webb Space Telescope has already begun to reshape our perspective of the universe in some spellbinding ways. The latest image from the instrument’s infrared cameras continues this theme with a dramatic look at early star formation.

Planets have been born, lived and died long before Earth even existed. Now astronomers have detected the ruins of ancient planets around two unusual white dwarf stars, including an Earth-like world that existed almost 10 billion years ago.

Stars are hot balls of plasma, but astronomers have now spotted a super strange one that may have a solid surface. Its intense magnetic field is strong enough to overcome its blistering temperatures and “freeze” its outer layers into a solid crust.

Astrophysicists have observed puzzling behavior in star clusters that defies our current understanding of gravity at cosmic scales. Intriguingly, the observations fit with an alternative theory of gravity that could negate the need for dark matter.

The James Webb Space Telescope has snapped some incredible images in its short career, but this new one is a doozy. The spacecraft has now taken images of the iconic Pillars of Creation, revealing new details and giving a peek behind the cloudy curtain.

Astronomers may have discovered a monster black hole that’s one of the closest to Earth known. With a mass equivalent to 12 Suns, the black hole was found to be quietly lurking “practically in our backyard,” according to the team.