Astronomy

Science advances through data that don’t fit our current understanding. At least that was Thomas Kuhn’s theory in his famous On the Structure of Scientific Revolutions. So scientists should welcome new data that challenges their understanding of how the universe works. A recent paper, available in pre-print on arXiv, using data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) might just have found some data that can do that. It looked at an exoplanet around a millisecond pulsar and found its atmosphere is made up of almost entirely pure carbon.

Traditionally, black holes are usually thought to reside at the centers of galaxies. However, a research team led by Dr. An Tao from the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has discovered a wandering black hole in a dwarf galaxy located about 230 million light-years away.

It was a chilly night when I peered through my 10” Meade LX200 telescope from Norfolk in the UK! I wasn’t completely convinced it would appear nor even be visible but bang on the prediction, asteroid 2002 MN drifted by my field of view and I was amazed at how accurately we could predict its path! That precision in tracking asteroid trajectories has become even more critical now that we're actively exploring how we can deflect them. A team of scientists have made a discovery about asteroid deflection that's both fascinating and sobering at the same time. Hit an asteroid in the wrong spot, and you might accidentally steer it through a "gravitational keyhole" that sending it back toward Earth years later.

There are plenty of labs working on solutions to Kessler Syndrome, where there’s so much debris in low Earth orbit that rockets are no longer capable of reaching it without being hit with hypersonic parts of defunct equipment. While we haven’t yet gotten to the point where we’ve lost access to space, there will come a day where that will happen if we don’t do something about it. A new paper from Kazunori Takahashi of Tohoku University in Japan looks at a novel solution that uses a type of magnetic field typically seen in fusion reactors to decelerate debris using a plasma beam while balancing itself with an equal and opposite thrust on the other side.

As someone who has lectured for more years than I care to remember and written books about space, I've grown accustomed to constantly rewriting sections as new discoveries emerge. The discovery of the dwarf planet Makemake led to such rewrites, but until now we didn't know much about this elusive world. A team of scientists at the Southwest Research Institute has recently changed that with their detection of methane gas on Makemake using the James Webb Space Telescope. It's exactly the kind of discovery that sends authors like me back to the drawing board, because this finding doesn't just add another detail to Makemake's story, it fundamentally changes how we view these distant worlds.

Interstellar comets are rare, and astronomers don't like to miss an opportunity to observe one. Now the Gemini South Telescope has taken a turn at imaging Comet 3I/ATLAS, the visitor from another star system. The images help show that the comet's tail is growing as it approaches the Sun.

A team of Japanese astronomers has detected protostellar outflow jets in the outer regions of the Milky Way. This is the first detection of this type of jets in this part of the galaxy. Since this part of the galaxy is similar to the more ancient Universe, it's evidence that star formation in the modern Universe is similar to star formation in the ancient Universe.

Rocky material that impacted Mars lies scattered in giant lumps throughout the planet’s mantle, offering clues about Mars’ interior and its ancient past. Data provided by the now-retired InSight lander is shedding light on how this shaped Mars' structure and evolution.

A 1.3-kilometre swim by a jaguar is the longest ever confirmed, but the cat's motives for making the journey are unclear

A 1.3-kilometre swim by a jaguar is the longest ever confirmed, but the cat's motives for making the journey are unclear

A child in Los Angeles County has died from a rare but always fatal brain disorder that develops years after a measles infection. Experts underscore the need for vaccination to protect the most vulnerable

Childhood obesity rates have surpassed those of undernutrition for the first time, suggesting efforts to combat malnutrition will have to shift gears.

Childhood obesity rates have surpassed those of undernutrition for the first time, suggesting efforts to combat malnutrition will have to shift gears.

The LIGO gravitational-wave detector celebrates its 10th birthday with the clearest signal yet from a pair of merging black holes.

The post Celebrating 10 Years of Gravitational-Wave Discoveries appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

The Sun blew out a coronal mass ejection along with part of a solar filament over a three-hour period on Feb. 24, 2015. While some of the strands fell back into the Sun, a substantial part raced into space in a bright cloud of particles (as observed by the NASA-ESA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory spacecraft). Because this occurred way over near the edge of the Sun, it was unlikely to have any effect on Earth.

Week in images: 08-12 September 2025

Discover our week through the lens

A study of festivalgoers suggests that drinking beer and sharing a bed makes you more attractive to mosquitoes

A study of festivalgoers suggests that drinking beer and sharing a bed makes you more attractive to mosquitoes

See the images that won the 2025 Astronomy Photographer of the Year award.

The post Royal Observatory Greenwich / ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Forensic scientist Michael Haag explains how laser scanners could be used to lock down the crime scenes where Charlie Kirk was fatally shot, letting investigators revisit angles, trajectories and vantage points long after the fact.