As the hunt for dark matter, the universe’s most common yet most mysterious “stuff,” continues, scientists are understandably eager to get the most powerful space telescope in on the action. Space.com spoke to three scientists, cosmic detectives who are hot on the trail of dark matter candidates using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The … Read more
In 2007, astronomers discovered the Cosmic Horseshoe, a gravitationally lensed system of galaxies about five-and-a-half billion light-years away. The foreground galaxy’s mass magnifies and distorts the image of a distant background galaxy whose light has travelled for billions of years before reaching us. The foreground and background galaxies are in such perfect alignment that they … Read more
Astronomers have been forced to reassess the origins of mysterious, rapid radio wave blasts called “fast radio bursts” (FRBs). This rethink was brought about by an FRB first detected last year, which has been traced back to the “cosmic graveyard” of a massive “dead” galaxy filled with ancient stars located 2 billion light-years from Earth. … Read more
An artist’s concept shows SPHEREx in orbit around Earth. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech An infrared space telescope is scheduled to launch this week to map the sky not once but four times, and with unrivaled clarity. With a launch date as early as Friday, Feb. 28, NASA’s Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization … Read more
Using 16 years of data from NASA’s gamma-ray detecting Fermi spacecraft, astronomers have discovered that “microquasars,” systems in which a black hole is slowly devouring a star, may be small, but they pack one heck of a punch. Despite their diminutive nature, this research suggests even microquasars snacking on small stars can have an impressive … Read more
Dark energy, the mysterious force that’s driving the accelerating expansion of the universe, may not actually exist, scientists say. Their research has brought into question one of the cornerstones of modern cosmology. In a new study, published Dec. 19, 2024 in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the researchers analyzed data from … Read more
How do you cool down a phoenix? I don’t mean the mythological birds of flame and rebirth, but rather a cosmic namesake with a fittingly fiery nature. Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers may finally have the answer. They used the powerful instrument to investigate the extreme cooling of gas in the Phoenix … Read more
Credit: Vitalij Kopa/Dreamstime.com There are thousands upon thousands of questions related to the topic of astronomy, from the basics of the science to the complexities of the distant cosmos. Here are just 40 such questions that we as astronomers — professional and amateur — hear. I hope their answers help you explain some of these … Read more
Scientists have discovered a new way to probe the interiors of neutron stars by using gravitational waves to turn them into “cosmic tuning forks.” The reverberations of such ripples in spacetime could reveal the interiors of these extreme stellar remains. Born when massive stars die, neutron stars have up to two times the mass of … Read more
Superman isn’t the only one with X-ray vision. Plenty of exploding stars are also adept at blasting outbursts of this high-energy light. Now, thanks to a chance discovery, scientists are aware of an entirely new explosive stellar source of X-ray radiation. These outbursts’ light output didn’t resemble any previous cosmic explosion. Meet the “millinovas,” a … Read more