How Pluto captured its largest moon Charon with a 10-hour icy...
New research suggests that billions of years ago, Pluto may have captured its largest moon, Charon, with a very brief icy "kiss." The theory could explain how the dwarf planet (yeah, we wish Pluto was still a planet, too) could snare a moon that is around half its size.The team behind this research thinks that…
Supermassive black hole spotted 12.9 billion light-years from Earth — and...
Astronomers have discovered a supermassive black hole that's shooting a giant energy beam directly at Earth. The cosmic juggernaut, which is about as massive as 700 million suns, is taking aim at us from a galaxy in the early universe, up to 800 million years after the Big Bang — making this the most distant…
Recent Observations Challenge our Understanding of Giant Black Holes
Black holes are among the most mysterious and powerful objects in the Universe. These behemoths form when sufficiently massive stars reach the end of their life cycle and experience gravitational collapse, shedding their outer layers in a supernova. Their existence was illustrated by the work of German astronomer Karl Schwarzschild and Indian-American physicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar…
An Even Ghostlier Neutrino May Rule the Universe
Strange “right-handed” neutrinos may be responsible for all the matter in the universe, according to new research. Why is the universe filled with something other than nothing? Almost all fundamental interactions in physics are exactly symmetrical, meaning that they produce just as much matter as they do antimatter. But the universe is filled with only…
About a Third of Supermassive Black Holes are Hiding
Supermassive black holes can have trillions of times more mass than the Sun, only exist in specific locations, and could number in the trillions. How can objects like that be hiding? They’re shielded from our view by thick columns of gas and dust. However, astronomers are developing a way to find them: by looking for…
Rare string of ‘cosmic pearls’ dance together in the universe
Astronomers have discovered a rare group of five dwarf galaxies located relatively close to Earth; these galaxies exist in a near-perfect alignment, resembling a string of cosmic pearls in the sky.Held together by their mutual gravity, several of the dwarf galaxies (designated D1 to D5) are rhythmically dancing with one another while others are engaged…
Earth’s moon could’ve had Saturn-like rings, new study hints
None of the moons in our solar system possess rings today. But a new study indicates that such rings, if created, could remain stable for a million years, even while being gravitationally pulled by other solar system objects. The findings deepen the mystery of why these satellites are now ring-free.Rings surround many members of our…
Earth’s Temporary Moon Might Have Come from THE Moon
A tiny asteroid loitering in a near-Earth orbit for a few months last year may have an intriguing origin on our Moon. Its characteristics led scientists to ask: is it a chip off the old lunar block, making a pass by Earth for a visit? The object is known as Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) 2024 PT5…
Galaxy Cores May be Giant Fuzzy Dark Stars
A fuzzy form of dark matter may clump up to become the cores of galaxies, according to new research. The traditional dark matter hypothesis, that it’s some form of cold, massive particle that hardly ever interacts with itself or with normal matter, has some difficulties. In particular, it can’t quite explain the dense cores of…
Webb Provides an Explanation for “Little Red Dots”
When a new space telescope is launched, it’s designed to address specific issues in astronomy and provide critical answers to important questions. The JWST was built with four overarching science goals in mind. However, when anticipating new telescopes, astronomers are quick to point out that they’re also excited by the unexpected discoveries that new telescopes…
