Astronomy

For the first time, astrophysicists have spotted a supernova right before it explodes. This is a rare glimpse inside a massive star before it meets its doom. The star was stripped down to its core, and the observations confirm theories that show stars have onion-like layers.

Now versions of the Great Filter argument had been around for decades (just like Fermi was not the first person to ask where everybody is), but the most comprehensive form of the argument comes from Robin Hanson in 1996.

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are some of the most powerful signals in the universe. They can emit as much power in a few milliseconds as our Sun does in several days. Despite their strength, we still don’t have a definitive answer to what causes them. That is partly because, at least for the ones that only happen once, they are really hard to point down. But a new extension to the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) might provide the resolution needed to determine where non-repeating FRBs come from - and its first discovery was one of the brightest FRBs of all time, which helped researchers track it with an unprecedented level of precision, as described in a new paper in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

A new study led by the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) in Barcelona presents a new method and protocol for detecting supernovae within days. Their findings are crucial to astronomers hoping to learn more about these powerful events and the life cycles of stars.

Scientists thought they had Jupiter figured out until NASA's Juno spacecraft peered inside our Solar System’s largest planet and discovered something completely unexpected. Jupiter doesn't have the solid, well defined core that researchers had imagined, instead, Jupiter's core is mysteriously fuzzy and blurred, defying everything we thought we knew about how giant planets form. Now, powerful computer simulations are overturning the leading theory about how this strange structure came to be, suggesting that Jupiter's secrets run deeper than anyone realised.

Asteroids floating through our Solar System are debris left over from when our planetary neighbourhood formed 4.6 billion years ago. Scientists study these ancient fragments as time capsules that reveal secrets about our Solar System's earliest days. Now, new research has uncovered a surprising connection between two completely different types of asteroids that may actually share the same dramatic origin story.

When NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope launches in October 2026, it won't just be peering into the distant universe to study dark energy and exoplanets. This powerful observatory will also serve as Earth's newest guardian, helping scientists track and understand potentially dangerous asteroids and comets that could threaten our planet.

Astronomers are amazed to have discovered a baby exoplanet gobbling up matter around an infant star like a planetary Pac-Man.

Academy Award-winning "Star Wars" legend Roger Christian shares how he recreated the vibe of the original 'Alien' film in Hulu's new series 'Alien: Earth.'

A fossil discovered in Patagonia shows a 3.5-metre-long reptile from the late Cretaceous with large, serrated teeth capable of slicing through muscle

People used to experience an "unhappiness hump" around midlife, but declining youth mental health may mean that is no longer the case

Although the existence of the warps is widespread, their origin is still a mystery.

Starship performed very well on its 10th-ever test flight Tuesday (Aug. 27), but SpaceX will soon move on from the shiny silver vehicle —to an even bigger version of it.

Categorising the Denisovans as a distinct species would allow us to more comprehensively trace our own evolutionary development

China is going full throttle in its quest to land astronauts on the moon by 2030, notching several important milestones over the past few months.

MIT professor, Nobel prize winner, and renowned astrophysicist Rainer Weiss has passed away at the age of 92.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Aug. 27 and made the company's 400th Falcon 9 landing on a droneship at sea.

The brightest and most colourful glowing plants yet have been created by injecting phosphorescent chemicals directly into the leaves, but it is little more than a cheap gimmick

The brightest and most colourful glowing plants yet have been created by injecting phosphorescent chemicals directly into the leaves, but it is little more than a cheap gimmick

A 165-million-year-old ankylosaur from the Atlas Mountains of Morocco was covered in an array of extreme armour including body spikes fused to its skeleton, a feature never seen in any dinosaur before