Spirals are a repeating theme in astronomy, with arguably the most famous example of a swirling armed structure being our home galaxy, the Milky Way. Now, using a powerful NASA supercomputer called “Pleiades,” scientists have discovered yet another spiral structure on the edge of our solar system. The spiral is composed of billions of icy … 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
Stars form in Giant Molecular Clouds (GMCs), vast clouds of mostly hydrogen that can span tens of light years. These stellar nurseries can form thousands of stars. Astronomers know this because they observe these regions in the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds and watch as stars take shape. But the Universe is more than … Read more
View larger. | A new theory proposes that humanity – and other analogous forms of intelligent life in the universe – might not be as extraordinary or improbable as previously thought. Instead, we might represent the probable outcome of biological and planetary evolution. The new theory challenges the decades-old hard steps” theory of human evolution. … Read more
The Euclid space telescope has, by chance, discovered its first Einstein ring, and it is absolutely stunning. Beyond its aesthetic appeal, this perfectly circular Einstein ring has allowed researchers to “weigh” the dark matter at the heart of a galaxy almost 600 million light-years away. The European Space Agency (ESA) spacecraft, which launched in July … Read more
Watch this video of the largest radio jet that astronomers have seen yet in the early universe. Image via NOIRLab. Largest radio jet seen yet in the early universe In the nearby universe, astronomers have seen many radio jets blasting outward from the black holes at the cores of galaxies. But on February 6, 2025, … Read more
The colored dots represent different superstructures out to 800 million light-years (250 megaparsecs) from Earth. The red dots denote Quipu, the largest structure in the universe. Yellow is Sculptor-Pegasus superstructure, green is Serpens-Corona Borealis, purple is Hercules and blue is Shapley. Image via Böhringer et al. Astronomy and Astrophysics, 2025. Used with permission. Quipu is … Read more
By observing tiny ripples in spacetime called “gravitational waves” that propagate away from colliding black holes, scientists could reveal hidden asymmetries in the universe. The team behind new research on the topic suggests that measuring whether gravitational waves from black hole mergers are right- or left-handed can tell us if the Cosmological Principle — an … 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
Giant, gas-rich planets may have been able to form more easily in the very early universe than they do today, according to astounding new findings from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) that corroborate earlier Hubble Space Telescope evidence. In 2003, Hubble found a massive exoplanet. There’s nothing too unusual about that, but closer inspection … Read more