For more than five years, astronomers have sounded alarms about the effect satellite megaconstellations would have on their observations. The launch in 2019 of the first Starlink satellites, initially bright enough to be seen by the naked eye, led astronomers to spring to action to both raise awareness about the threat and to work with … Read more
Is it possible to understand the Universe without understanding the largest structures that reside in it? In principle, not likely. In practical terms? Definitely not. Extremely large objects can distort our understanding of the cosmos. Astronomers have found the largest structure in the Universe so far, named Quipu after an Incan measuring system. It contains … Read more
New research suggests that a troubling disparity in the rate of expansion of the universe, known as the Hubble constant, may arise from the fact Earth sits in a vast underdense region of the cosmos. The issue has come to be known as the “Hubble tension.” It arises from the fact that there are two … Read more
Scientists have discovered seven more “dark comets,” and analysis of this haul suggests that the puzzling planetoids are divided into two distinct families, further deepening the mystery of why these objects look like asteroids but behave like comets. Of late, the dividing line between asteroids and comets has become blurred. There are “main-belt comets,” also … Read more
Astronomer Teddy Kareta had spent countless nights over the years observing various objects across our solar system using Arizona’s Lowell Discovery Telescope, or LDT. On Nov. 19, 2022, he set his alarm to ring shortly before midnight, in preparation for what he presumed would be a quiet observing night — and woke up to missed … Read more