Very Large Array

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 discovered bizarre “blue blobs” in space. These blobs are clusters of young, blue stars that are isolated from any parent galaxy, suggesting they formed from a galactic “belly flop.”

Astronomers have spotted a new type of supernova for the first time. An unlucky star seems to have prematurely exploded after colliding with an extremely dense object, perhaps a black hole or a neutron star, creating a unique signature in the sky.

Active galactic nuclei are known by different names depending on the viewing angle. Now, for the first time astronomers have directly imaged the last piece of the puzzle that ties them all together – a dusty donut of material that surrounds a supermassive black hole.

In August 2017, astronomers observed a collision between two neutron stars so powerful it produced gravitational waves, flares in visible light, radio waves, x-rays and a gamma ray burst. Now that things have quietened, astronomers have studied the strange object created in the cosmic collision.

What exactly is going on within Jupiter's chaotic atmosphere is a question that has mystified astronomers for some time. Researchers have now peeled back the curtain by producing the most detailed radio map of Jupiter's atmosphere yet, revealing swathes of ammonia gas that drive its stormy weather.