Astronomers have gotten better at tracking the motions of stars just beyond the solar system. But that’s made it harder to predict Earth’s future and reconstruct its past.
Tag: Stars and Galaxies
The Doomsday Clock Keeps Ticking
Are humans the only beings in the universe confronting global self-destruction? Or just the last ones standing?
Dark Galaxies: What Happens When Stars Are Nearly Invisible
To dark matter and dark energy, add dark galaxies — collections of stars so sparse and faint that they are all but invisible.
A Famous Black Hole Gets a Second Look From Astronomers
Repeated studies of the supermassive black hole in the galaxy Messier 87 confirm that it continues to act as Einstein’s theory predicted it would.
Galaxies in the Early Universe Were Shaped Like Bananas, Study Suggests
Images from the Webb telescope suggest that newborn galaxies look weirder than expected. Exactly how screwy was physics at the dawn of time?
How to Create a Black Hole Out of Thin Air
Black holes were thought to arise from the collapse of dead stars. But a Webb telescope image showing the early universe hints at an alternative pathway.
A New Satellite Outshines Some of the Brightest Stars in the Sky
Astronomers warn that BlueWalker 3, a test spacecraft with a large array of antennas, could be the first of many larger satellites in low-Earth orbit that interfere with astronomical observations.
In Space, the Past Is Future (and Equally Unpredictable)
Not even the most advanced physics can reveal everything we want to know about the history and future of the cosmos, or about ourselves.
Back to New Jersey, Where the Universe Began
A half-century ago, a radio telescope in Holmdel, N.J., sent two astronomers 13.8 billion years back in time — and opened a cosmic window that scientists have been peering through ever since.
What Is That Question Mark in Space? Here’s What We Know — and Don’t Know
Close scrutiny of a recent image from the Webb Space Telescope revealed some questionable punctuation.