astrophysics
A Weird X-Ray Signal Is Coming From Nearby Galaxies and Nobody Knows Why
For years, scientists debated whether the glow was a telltale sign of dark matter. A new study refutes that theory, but that only deepens the mystery.
Physicist Proposes Turning the Sun Into a Gigantic Engine
“That’s the new result of the paper: What exactly is possible if you have a Dyson sphere and you want to use it to drive a jet to push a star around?”
NASA’s Solar Probe Found ‘Tantalizing Evidence’ of Rings Around the Sun
The Parker Solar Probe captured evidence of a possible dust-free zone, hinting at rings, along with insights into "magnetic islands" and plasma "blobs."
NASA’s Solar Probe Found Things Near the Sun That We Can’t Explain
Scientists say the unexplained rogue waves and high winds mean we are “missing something really fundamental in our standard models of the Sun.”
Scientists Think They've Uncovered How the Strongest Magnets in the Universe Form
Magnetars may be the exploded remains of star mergers.
Scientists Are Chasing an Ancient Signal That Could Explain the Modern Universe
The faint, 12-billion-year-old signal would lead scientists to the very first stars and illuminate the origins of the modern universe, dark matter, and, well, everything.
This Runaway ‘Hypervelocity’ Star Was Catapulted from the Milky Way’s Disk
“This discovery dramatically changes our view on the origin of fast-moving stars.”
Neil DeGrasse Tyson Is Canceled (for Now) Amid His #MeToo Reckoning
Nat Geo is doing the right thing by investigating, but it's coming pretty late.
It Took 600 Years to Figure Out This Mysterious, Exploding Ancient Star
Korean royal astrologers saw a new star appear in the sky in 1437 AD, and it took 600 years for astronomers to find what they had seen, and explain why it appeared that night.
How an Astrophysicist Used Math to Take the Math out of Darts
A new pub chain is looking to make darts more accessible to younger people by creating automatic scoring technology. It's harder than you think.
Around 10,000 Black Holes Are at the Center of the Galaxy, Study Says
The supermassive black hole at the galactic core seems to have an abundance of smaller black hole friends.