New observations made by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have further cemented one of the most bizarre observations in all of physics — that the universe expanded at different speeds across varying stages of its lifetime. The conundrum, referred to as the Hubble tension, has fueled a debate among astronomers that could alter or…

The existence of features on the Sun was known from the records of sunspots observed by ancient astronomers with the naked eye; however, no systematic studies were made of such features until the telescope was invented in the early 17th century. The Italian scientist Galileo Galilei and the German mathematician Christoph Scheiner were among the…

Credit: Liyao Xie / Getty Images The possibility that there might be a large, unknown planet lurking in the outer Solar System far beyond Pluto has long been a staple of science fiction. But for the past decade, astronomers have been finding it increasingly likely that something big – often called Planet X – might…

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Did Venus have oceans in its ancient past and could they have supported life as we know it, or even as we don’t know it? This is what a recent study published in Nature Astronomy hopes to address as a team of researchers from the University of Cambridge investigated the climate history of Venus and…

Slowly repeating bursts of intense radio waves from space have puzzled astronomers since they were discovered in 2022. In new research, we have for the first time tracked one of these pulsating signals back to its source: a common kind of lightweight star called a red dwarf, likely in a binary orbit with a white…

What it is: Sombrero Galaxy (M104), a spiral galaxy. Where it is: 30 million light-years distant in the Virgo constellation. When it was shared: Nov. 25, 2024. Why it’s so special: It may have been first discovered in 1781, but the aptly named Sombrero Galaxy has never looked like this. This striking new perspective on…

Spending over 25 years observing the night sky, I have come to appreciate what makes a great telescope — from the build quality and accessories on offer, to the optical performance and portability. This Black Friday weekend and Cyber Monday, I have come across quite a few instruments targeted at astronomers of all levels who…

Astronomers have discovered a record-breaking burst of energy coming from deep space, tracing it to a binary system containing a tiny red dwarf star and a dead stellar remnant called a white dwarf. The team from the Curtin University node of the International Center for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) discovered the pulse of bright energy…

The Space Store is located at 605 Chestnut Street, Chattanooga, Tennessee. Chattanooga, Tennessee, is a favorite city of mine. Not only is it an incredibly beautiful place, with Moccasin Bend in the Tennessee River tucked near the downtown area, but breathtaking views of the whole region await from the towering plateaus of Lookout Mountain and…