Universe Today

A new survey of K-type stars in the Sun's neighbourhood reveals important information about their ability to sustain their habitable zones. These stars are less massive, cooler, and dimmer than the Sun, but stay on the main sequence for many tens of billions of years. Their long lives can create the stable conditions necessary for life to develop on exoplanets.

It feels like every time we publish an article about an exciting discovery of a potential biosignature on a new exoplanet, we have to publish a follow-up one a few months later debunking the original claims. That is exactly how science is supposed to work, and part of our job as science journalists is to report on the debunking as well as the original story, even if it might not be as exciting. In this particular case, it seems the discovery of dimethyl sulfide in the atmosphere of exoplanet K2-18 b was a false alarm, according to a new paper available in pre-print form on arXiv by Luis Welbanks of Arizona State University and his co-authors.

It was a question I heard lots this past weekend. “What’s that bright star near the Full Moon?” That ‘star’ was actually a planet, as Jupiter heads towards opposition rising ‘opposite’ to the setting Sun this coming weekend. This places the King of the Planets high in the northern sky, in the same general spot the Full Moon occupies in January.

Check this out. There are some experiments that just make you…stop. That make you reconsider everything you’ve ever known.

An international team of astronomers using a combination of ground-based telescopes, including the W. M. Keck Observatory on Maunakea, Hawaiʻi Island, has discovered the first-ever spatially resolved, gravitationally lensed superluminous supernova. The object, dubbed SN 2025wny, offers a rare look at a stellar cataclysm from the early Universe and provides a striking confirmation of Einstein’s theory of general relativity.

Astronomers found a handful of unusual objects in JWST survey data. These 9 point sources are being called 'Astronomy's Platypus' because, like the animal, they seem to defy categorization. They're not like active galactic nuclei, and they're not like star-forming galaxies. What are they?

A team using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered a new type of astronomical object —a starless, gas-rich, dark-matter cloud that is considered a “relic” or remnant of early galaxy formation. Nicknamed “Cloud-9,” this is the first confirmed detection of such an object in the Universe. The finding furthers the understanding of galaxy formation, the early Universe, and the nature of dark matter itself.

It feels like every week now we’re writing a new article about how 3I/ATLAS is not an alien technology. But it’s worth re-iterating, and perhaps taking a look at the methodology we used to prove that statement. A new paper, available in pre-print form on arXiv from Sofia Sheikh of the SETI Institute and her co-authors, details how one specific instrument - the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) - contributed to that effort.

Stars and planets are linked together in their formation, evolution, and even in their demises. But many of the details behind this are yet to be revealed. New research outlines an observing strategy that could uncover more critical details.

Without a better grasp of stellar flaring, our understanding of exoplanet habitability is at an impasse. Red dwarfs are the most numerous type of star in the galaxy, and they host many rocky exoplanets in their habitable zones. The problem is, they're known to flare so violently that it may negate their habitable zones. A group of researchers propose a new telescope designed solely to study stellar flaring.

There is a strong relation between the size of a galaxy's black hole and the motion of stars in the galaxy's core, known as the M-sigma relation. It turns out this relation doesn't work well for galaxies with ultramassive black holes.

So far, humanity has yet to find its first “exomoon” - a Moon orbiting a planet outside of the solar system. But that hasn’t been for lack of trying. According to a new paper by Thomas Winterhalder of the European Southern Observatory and his co-authors available as a pre-print on arXiv, the reason isn’t because those Moons don’t exist, but simply because we lack the technology to detect them. They propose a new “kilometric baseline interferometer” that can detect moons as small as the Earth up to 200 parsecs (652 light years) away.

The first results on the iconic active galactic nucleus MCG–6-30-15 captured with the XRISM mission show the most precise signatures yet of its supermassive black hole’s extreme gravity and the outflows that shape its galaxy.

A new study by researchers at the University of Amsterdam shows how gravitational waves from black holes can be used to reveal the presence of dark matter and help determine its properties. The key is a new model, based on Einstein’s theory of general relativity, that tracks in detail how a black hole interacts with the surrounding matter.

Terrestrial planets such as Earth need an early solar system rich in short-lived radioisotopes. But the supernovae that create these elements would tend to rip an early system apart. A new study suggests that these isotopes are produced by a bath of cosmic rays from more distant supernovae.

A team of Canadian astronomers has used Webb's observations of "Milky Way twins" in the early Universe to learn more about our galaxy's turbulent youth.

Sunspots and solar flares go hand in hand. They generally occur in the same region of the Sun around the same time. We've long thought the same would be true for other stars, but a new study finds that isn't the case.

It sneaks up on us, every annual flip of the calendar into the new year. If skies are clear, keep an eye out for the brief but strong Quadrantid meteors this weekend. The Quadrantids or ‘Quads’ have a brief but strong annual peak just after New Year’s Day. This also makes the shower notoriously elusive for observers.

Size matters when it comes to telescopes. The bigger they are, the farther they can see. Prioritizing constructing large ones is therefore high on the priority list for many observational organizations. But doing so comes at a cost, and not just in terms of money. Finding a suitable site can be a challenge, and that has been particularly true for the effort to build a 30-meter telescope in the Northern hemisphere. A new paper, available in pre-print on arXiv by Francesco Coti Zelati of the Spanish Institute of Space Sciences in Barcelona and his co-authors, makes the argument for building it at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in La Palma.

The Atacama Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA), the world's most powerful radio telescope, has received 145 new low-noise amplifiers (LNAs) that will increase its range and sensitivity.