New Atlas

Space Audio available

Bizarre celestial object spotted is one of the rarest in the galaxy

Michael Irving May 21, 2019

The cosmos is full of strange things, like planets made of diamond, mysterious radio bursts and quasars that shine like 600 trillion Suns. Now astronomers have spotted a bizarre star that may prove to be one of the rarest objects ever, with maybe as few as five or six of them in the galaxy.

A white dwarf star, which is at the heart of the strange new object

Space Audio available

Grain of dust found from dead star that predates the Sun

Michael Irving April 29, 2019

Meteorites can tell us stories of ancient stars and long-lost planets. One of these stories has now been uncovered in a piece of space rock retrieved from Antarctica, containing grains from a stellar explosion that predates the Sun.

An illustration of a nova, which is believed to be responsible for the presolar grain LAP-149

Space

Planetary core orbiting dying star echoes the twilight of our solar system

Anthony Wood April 4, 2019

Scientists have discovered what they believe to be the dense, metallic remains of a planet surviving closer to the core of a dying star than had previously been thought possible. The discovery offers a tantalizing glimpse into what may become of our home solar system billions of years in the future.

Artist's impression of a planetary fragment orbiting a white dwarf

Space Audio available

Ancient white dwarf with rings calls star system evolution into question

Michael Irving February 19, 2019

A NASA-led citizen scientist project has discovered an ancient white dwarf that’s surrounded by large rings, which is shaking up our understanding of how these systems form.

An illustration of the newly discovered white dwarf and its ring system

Space Audio available

New study suggests ancient stars form crystal cores

Anthony Wood January 9, 2019

An international team of astronomers has uncovered the first direct evidence for the theory that the dying husks of ancient stars, known as white dwarfs, solidify into crystals as they age.

Artist's impression of a white dwarf undergoing crystallization

Space Audio available

How dying stars could reignite with help from enigmatic class of black hole

Michael Irving October 31, 2018

A white dwarf is one of the last stages of life for stars of a certain size, and it’s all downhill from there. But supercomputer simulations run by astronomers at LLNL suggest that these dying stars could be reignited by a close encounter with an enigmatic class of black hole.

Simulations suggest that white dwarf stars could be reignited by a close encounter with an intermediate-mass ...

Physics

Triple star system puts Einstein's theory of relativity to the test

Michael Irving July 5, 2018

The theory of relativity predicts that any two objects in a vacuum will fall at the same rate. Whether or not this applied to massive objects like planets and stars has long been debated, but now astronomers have shown that the phenomenon does hold true, meaning Einstein was right yet again.

Astronomers have used a triple star system, made up of a neutron star and two white ...

Space

Laser emissions discovered emerging from the Ant Nebula

Anthony Wood May 16, 2018

A team of astronomers has identified a rare laser phenomenon shining from the heart of the planetary nebula Menzel 3, otherwise known as the Ant Nebula. The discovery suggests the presence of an as yet unseen companion star, hiding at the core of the chaotic cosmic structure.

Space

Supernova shows "the universe is crazier than science fiction"

Michael Franco August 15, 2017

Thanks to a global network of 18 robotic telescopes, researchers caught a brief blue glow in the sky which, they say, was the result of a different kind of supernova explosion. The find reveals surprising information about the companion star next to the white dwarf that sparked the spectacle.

Supernova SN 2017cbv is located in the galaxy NGC 5643, about 55 million light years away, ...