Stars

Astronomers at NASA and ESA have discovered the youngest pulsar known. This celestial child is a mere 240 years old, and its birth would have been visible on Earth at the time as a supernova. This little star is known as Swift J1818.0−1607.

NASA's New Horizons deep-space probe has, for the first time, returned images to Earth that showed stellar parallax, or how the positions of stars shift when seen from two different places. This could one day be used for interstellar navigation.

Astrophysicists have found evidence of quark matter at the heart of compact stars. Combining recent theoretical calculations with astrophysical observations, the researchers found that the most massive neutron stars most likely have “quark cores.”

According to the results of a new study, stars orbiting near the centers of massive clusters have a much harder time forming planets than their smaller siblings located nearer the edge, and they may have themselves to blame.

The universe is full of explosions, and now astronomers have described a brand new class of space signals. Named fast blue optical transients (FBOTs), these events are very bright and throw off incredible amounts of energy in a short amount of time.

Astronomers have discovered a “cosmic ring of fire” – a galaxy shaped like a gigantic donut. This extremely rare galaxy was likely caused by a collision with a smaller galaxy that can still be seen lingering near the scene of the accident.

The closest black hole to our solar system has been discovered a mere 1,000 light-years from Earth, and orbits with two companion stars that are visible to the naked eye without the aid of a telescope or binoculars.

Using polarized light, astronomers have detected signs of cloud bands in the atmosphere of a brown dwarf far beyond the solar system. It turns out that these gassy giants have a similar appearance to Jupiter, and the same kind of wild weather.

To get a sense of how “normal” the Sun may be, astronomers have compared the Sun to hundreds of similar stars. It turns out that it’s actually far less active than its peers – but is this a permanent personality, or is it just going through a phase?

The Spitzer Space Telescope was retired this January. The observatory is responsible for some of the most stunning space photos ever taken, so to celebrate New Atlas is rounding up some of the absolute best infrared images snapped by Spitzer.

In the galaxy GSN 069, a star has survived a close encounter with a black hole, ending up in orbit around it. Material pulled off the star turned it from a red giant into a white dwarf, and in about a trillion years it may actually become a planet.

Almost 30 years of observations has revealed that a star in the center of the galaxy orbits the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* in a rosette, or spirograph shape. The find once again confirms a prediction made by Einstein’s General Relativity.