Space

Astronomers at the University of Illinois have found the first clear evidence for a cradle in space where planets and moons form. The cradle, revealed in photographs taken with NASA’s Spitzer Space…

Astronomers at the University of Michigan have found what are believed to be some of the youngest solar systems yet detected. The systems are around the young stars UX Tau A and LkCa 15, located in…

One of the fastest moving stars ever seen has been discovered with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. This cosmic cannonball is challenging theories to explain its blistering speed. Astronomers used…

Astronomers have discovered white dwarf stars with pure carbon atmospheres. The discovery could offer a unique view into the hearts of dying stars. These stars possibly evolved in a sequence…

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has probed the bright core of Comet 17P/Holmes, which, to the delight of sky watchers, mysteriously brightened by nearly a millionfold in a 24-hour period beginning Oct…

Rocky terrestrial planets, perhaps like Earth, Mars or Venus, appear to be forming or to have recently formed around a star in the Pleiades ("seven sisters") star cluster, the result of "monster…

Known until now as a simple number in a catalogue, NGC 134, the 'Island in the Universe' that was observed by the European Commissioner for Science and Research Janez Potočnik on a visit to ESO's…

Scientists using the largest cosmic ray observatory in the world, the Pierre Auger Observatory in Argentina, have made an important discovery about the highest-energy cosmic rays that hit the Earth…

When the stars are shining above the atmosphere, they give off radiation across a wide spread of wavelengths. As Earth rotates, the star appears to sink down. When that happens, the atmosphere acts…

Astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) have found that a supernova discovered last year was caused by two colliding white dwarf stars. The white dwarfs were siblings…