Astronomy

A test for abnormal fetal chromosomes can also detect maternal cancers—and physicians are struggling to incorporate that knowledge into routine care

Melting ice is revealing new coastal zones in the Arctic, but while this new landscape might fuel speculation about natural resources, it is vulnerable to rockfalls and landslides that can cause dangerous tsunamis

Melting ice is revealing new coastal zones in the Arctic, but while this new landscape might fuel speculation about natural resources, it is vulnerable to rockfalls and landslides that can cause dangerous tsunamis

In this week’s news roundup, two NASA astronauts finally return to Earth after nine unexpected months in space, gray seals hold their breath for more than an hour, and penguin poop panics krill.

Using data from the Euclid Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered a stunning 2,674 dwarf galaxies, the study of which could help better understand cosmic evolution.

A new recipe for black holes could do away with central singularities, saving the laws of physics from troubling infinities.

What's on and in a star? What happens at an active galactic nucleus? Answering those question is the goal of a proposed giant interferometer on the Moon. It's called Artemis-enabled Stellar Imager (AeSI) and would deploy a series of 15-30 optical/ultraviolet-sensitive telescopes in a 1-km elliptical array across the lunar surface.

In the years since Miguel Alcubierre came up with a warp drive solution in 1994, you would occasionally see news headlines saying that warp drives can work. And then a few months later you’ll see that they’ve been ruled out. And then after that you’ll see that warp drives kind of work, but only in limited cases. It seems to constantly go around and around without a clear answer. What gives?

Thor not only has

There is a supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. There is also a lot of other stuff there as well. Young stars, gas, dust, and stellar-mass black holes. It's a happening place. It is also surrounded by a veil of interstellar gas and dust, which means we can't observe the region in visible light. We can observe stars in the region through infrared and radio, and some of the gas there emits radio light, but the stellar-mass black holes remain mostly a mystery.

Welcome back to our five-part examination of Webb's Cycle 4 General Observations program. In the first and second installments, we examined how some of Webb's 8,500 hours of prime observing time this cycle will be dedicated to exoplanet characterization, the study of galaxies at "Cosmic Dawn," the period known as "Cosmic Noon," and the study of star formation and evolution. In our final installment, we'll examine programs that leverage Webb's unique abilities to study objects in our cosmic backyard—the Solar System!

This original prop from Steven Spielberg's timeless 1982 film hits the auction block.

Nestled in the rolling green hills of the English countryside is an important site in global astronomical history. But now, with its future uncertain, this historic site is at risk.

On March 29, a partial solar eclipse will cause a dark shadow over eastern North America — and weather satellites will pick it up.

Isar Aerospace is set to launch its new Spectrum rocket from Europe's first orbit-capable spaceport facility in Norway.

JWST could potentially detect the signature of methyl halide compounds, produced by microbial life in Earth's ocean, on hypothetical hycean exoplanets.

In 1994 Miguel Alcubierre was able to construct a valid solution to the equations of general relativity that enable a warp drive. But now we need to tackle the rest of relativity: How do we arrange matter and energy to make that particular configuration of spacetime possible?

There are three known types of black holes: supermassive black holes that lurk in the hearts of galaxies, stellar mass black holes formed from stars that die as supernovae, and intermediate mass black holes with masses between the two extremes. It's generally thought that the intermediate ones form from the mergers of stellar mass black holes. If that is true, there should be a forbidden range between stellar and intermediate masses. A range where the mass is too large to have formed from a star but too small to be the sum of mergers. But a new study of data from LIGO suggests that there are black holes in that forbidden range.

A huge sun eruption combines with speedy solar wind from a "coronal hole" for a weekend aurora show, experts predict.

This was a very unusual type of solar eclipse.