Scientific American

JWST's Puzzling Early Galaxies Don't Break Cosmology--But They Do Bend Astrophysics

Jonathan O'Callaghan — Fri, 09 Feb 2024 14:00:00 GMT

Rather than ripping up our fundamental models of the universe, the unexpectedly big and bright galaxies spied in the early universe by JWST probably have astrophysical explanations

Alien World Denser Than Steel Confounds Our Understanding of Planet Formation

Allison Gasparini — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 14:00:00 GMT

A newly spotted world is just perplexingly dense

JWST Spots Baby Sun Spitting Up Supersonic Flows

Lori Youmshajekian — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 14:00:00 GMT

A newly released image from the James Webb Space Telescope provides a detailed view of a star’s infancy

First Space-Based Gravitational Wave Detector Gets Go-Ahead

Elizabeth Gibney, Nature magazine — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 15:30:00 GMT

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna could discover gigantic ripples in spacetime from merging supermassive black holes and more

How Being Wobbly Gives Earth and Possibly Other Planets Their Seasons

Gongjie Li, The Conversation US — Fri, 19 Jan 2024 13:00:00 GMT

Thousand of exoplanets have been discovered over the past decades, and understanding how they wobble on their axes could tell us what their seasons might look like and how habitable they may be

Why 2024's Total Solar Eclipse Will Be So Special

Meghan Bartels — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 12:00:00 GMT

The last time North Americans caught a total solar eclipse, the sun was in a lull of activity. This year’s eclipse will be very different

Bizarre Dark Object Could Be First-Known 'Empty' Galaxy from the Early Universe

Jonathan O'Callaghan — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 14:00:00 GMT

A serendipitously discovered object nearly as massive as the Milky Way appears to be made of primordial gas that has formed almost no stars

Information Theory Can Help Us Search for Life on Alien Worlds

Marcelo Gleiser, Lisa Kaltenegger, Sara Vannah — Fri, 12 Jan 2024 12:30:00 GMT

Information theory can help us decode signs of biological activity hiding in the atmospheres of distant exoplanets

The Language of Astronomy Is Needlessly Violent and Inaccurate

Juan P. Madrid — Thu, 04 Jan 2024 17:00:00 GMT

Astronomy is beautiful and elegant. The language we use to describe its processes is anything but

Stars Don't Slow Down with Age like Astronomers Thought

Zack Savitsky — Wed, 03 Jan 2024 12:15:00 GMT

Middle-aged stars hit cruise control, stifling their magnetic fields and resisting the slowdown that scientists expected

Betelgeuse Will Briefly Disappear in Once-in-a-Lifetime Coincidence

Meghan Bartels — Mon, 11 Dec 2023 12:00:00 GMT

For six seconds tonight, the constellation Orion will appear to lose the vibrant red star at its shoulder—and scientists are thrilled