A huge “super-Earth” with an extreme climate that results in it being habitable for only part of its orbit has been discovered orbiting a star 2,472 light years away. And the most remarkable thing is, it was discovered without even being directly detected. The discovery of the exoplanet, a super-Earth called Kepler-735c, is all down…

When astronomers look at distant objects—far away in both space and time—all too often, dust gets in their eyes. Well, not eyes, exactly—in their telescopes’ line of vision. It’s hard to take a close look at a galaxy formed, say, some five billion years ago, because there’s a lot of particulate matter floating in the…

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have unveiled the largest map of the early universe to date, a sweeping cosmic panorama that offers seasoned scientists and curious stargazers alike a front-row seat to the ancient cosmos. The images come from COSMOS-Web, the largest observing program the James Webb Space Telescope undertook in its…

Astronomers have discovered the most powerful cosmic explosions since the Big Bang, naming them “extreme nuclear transients.” These incredibly energetic explosions occur when stars with masses at least three times greater than that of the sun are torn apart by supermassive black holes. While such events have been witnessed before, astronomers say some of the…

The universe is full of spectacular and violent events, but few are more dramatic than a black hole tearing apart a star. Now, thanks to advanced computer simulations, scientists have gotten their closest look yet at what this cosmic catastrophe might actually look — and even sound — like. A team of astronomers, led by…

The universe is soaked in weak-but-persistent magnetic fields. Despite decades of research, astronomers still aren’t exactly sure where these magnetic fields came from. But new research suggests they almost certainly originated in the deep history of the cosmos. Everywhere we look, we see magnetic fields. Sometimes, the magnetic fields are relatively weak, like the ones…

Astronomers have been left puzzled by the discovery of an unusually large planet orbiting a remarkably small star, a cosmic pairing that defies existing theories of planetary formation. The star, named TOI-6894, is located approximately 240 light-years from Earth in the constellation Leo. It is only about one-fifth the mass of our sun. According to…

Like a family in which short parents have tall children, a tiny red dwarf star is defying our understanding of how planets form by existing alongside a giant exoplanet. Giant planets are not rare per se — after all, we have four in our own solar system. Such large worlds are, however, rarely found around…

On June 2, 2025 around 10 a.m. local time, residents of the island of Sicily began fleeing as Europe’s largest volcano suddenly erupted. What is it? Mount Etna’s eruption, captured by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite, revealed massive plumes of ash and smoke, as lava streaked down the side of the volcano.…