One of the brightest supernovae ever recorded by astronomers gained its notable luminosity when a white dwarf star exploded and sent stellar material smashing into the shell of another star’s explosion, researchers revealed in a study released Thursday.
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Astronomers in Europe have mapped out the cosmic history of one of life’s most essential elements, phosphorus, tracing the mineral’s interstellar journey from the star-forming regions of space directly to DNA of life on Earth.
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The universe has become an even more humbling place after a team of Harvard University astronomers discovered a galaxy-wide, wave-shaped gaseous structure that happens to form one of the closest arms of the Milky Way.
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Scientists announced Monday a new method of detecting oxygen in distant planets that could help in the search for extraterrestrial life.
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Skywatchers from Saudi Arabia and Oman to India and Singapore were treated to a rare “ring of fire” solar eclipse Thursday.
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Astronomers announced Monday the discovery of six new planets orbiting three different stars, seen by using a new technique that is certain to help astronomers discover even more.
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The largest observed black holes fed on the cool gas that lingered around the earliest galaxies in the universe.
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A NASA spacecraft recently achieved the remarkable feat of mapping the elusive winds that blow high above the surface of Mars – providing astronomers long-sought data for the first time in history, according to a new study.
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Astronomers have discovered a new hidden giant planet orbiting a white dwarf star, suggesting for the first time that a planet can survive its sun’s gradual demise, according to a study published Wednesday in Nature.
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Astronomers have discovered a black hole in the Milky Way so huge that it challenges existing models of how stars evolve, researchers said Wednesday.
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While evidence over the last decade has shown a steady waning of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, researchers in California have found that the size and ferocity of the vortex remains unchanged, according to a study released Monday.
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The most distant world ever explored, 4 billion miles away from Earth, finally has an official name: Arrokoth. It means “sky” in the language of the Native American Powhatan people, NASA said Tuesday.
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A trio of studies released Thursday offer clues about the earliest star nurseries and the fuel ignition mechanisms that may have sparked the supernova explosion that sparked the Big Bang, the origin point of our universe.
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Astronomers studying the formation of three planets in the disk surrounding a young star found that planets and their atmospheres likely form in gaps between gas and dust-filled rings in the disk, according to a study released Wednesday.
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Astronomers have learned how energy inside gaseous, dust-filled disks surrounding stars help prevent young planets from smashing into the stars they orbit, according to a study released Thursday.
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An international team of astronomers wielding the observational power of three massive telescopes have discovered a 13 billion-year-old galaxy cluster, the oldest grouping of star systems observed to date in the cosmos, according to a study released Thursday.
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The universe is looking younger every day. New calculations suggest the universe could be a couple billion years younger than scientists have estimated, and even younger than suggested by two other calculations published this year that trimmed hundreds of millions of years from the age of the cosmos.
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Using the combined power of three U.S observatories, astronomers discovered a planet three times the mass of Jupiter that orbits around its star on an unusual, oval-shaped path, according to a study released Tuesday.
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A “glitch” in a neutron star 1,000 light-years from Earth offered astronomers the first-ever glimpse into the forces generating rotation for the universe’s most dense objects.
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Astronomers have discovered 39 massive and ancient galaxies that defy current models of the known universe and contain clues about the interactions of black holes with dark matter, a study published Wednesday revealed.
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