SUNSET: 
Explore the Night with Bob King
Bright Supernova Discovered in "Fireworks Galaxy" NGC 6946
A brand new supernova in NGC 6946 is bright enough to see in modest-sized telescopes. Here's how to find it.
Stars Born in Galactic Wind
Astronomers have found newborn stars in gas pouring out of a galactic nucleus.
Active Black Hole Encourages Starbirth
Astronomers have discovered long filaments of cold gas — the ingredient for making stars — cocooning giant bubbles inflated by a black hole.
Hubble Spies Faint Galaxies, Bountiful in Early Universe
Hubble has spotted more than 100 small, faint galaxies in the young universe, common as dust bunnies but previously out of reach of even the best telescopes.
Cosmic Void “Pushes” Milky Way
Astronomers have discovered a giant cosmic void that explains why our Local Group of galaxies is moving through the universe as fast as it is.
Mystery Object in Cygnus A Galaxy
Astronomers have discovered an object in the active galaxy Cygnus A that wasn’t there before.
1,000 Black Holes in Deepest-Ever X-ray Image
The Chandra X-ray Observatory has gazed at a small patch of sky for almost 12 weeks, revealing 1,008 X-ray-emitting sources — most of them supermassive black holes.
Fast Radio Burst has a Surprising Source
For the first time, a team of astronomers has placed a fast radio burst on the cosmic map, allowing them to better pinpoint its mysterious origin.
Top 12 Astronomy News Stories of 2016
From the discovery of gravitational waves to the building evidence that a massive planet could exist beyond Pluto, it has been a thrilling year for astronomy research. We recap.
Hubble Images Tangled Web in Nearby Galaxy
A Hubble image of a nearby, massive elliptical galaxy reveals tenuous filaments that appear to be connected to the growth of the galaxy's supermassive black hole.
Astronomers Map Milky Way in Incredible Detail
Astronomers have mapped neutral atomic hydrogen, which profuses the space between stars, in unprecedented detail to create a beautiful radio-wavelength portrait of the Milky Way.
About Those 2 Trillion New Galaxies . . .
The news that astronomers find the universe has 10 times more galaxies than previously thought? There's less to this than the headlines say.
ALMA Pans for Galactic Gold in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field
ALMA, the largest telescope array in the world, took a look at the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, and revealed the cosmic history of star formation.
Why Galaxies Have Spiral Arms
Astronomers have found a unique trait of spiral arms that supports a longstanding idea about where these patterns come from.
Of Dwarf Galaxies and Voids
Living in voids might be tangentially responsible for three small galaxies’ recent flurries of starbirth.
Students Discover a Galactic Eye of Horus
Undergraduate students in Japan stumbled upon a rare lensing of two distinct background galaxies.
The Making of a “Frankenstein” Galaxy
Astronomers take a second look at UGC 1382 — previously considered a typical elliptical galaxy — and reassess everything they know about its size, age, and formation.
Doomed Hitomi Gazed at Galaxy Cluster
In its first — and final — month of flight, the Hitomi X-ray observatory measured the calm within the bubbling core of the Perseus Cluster.
Missing Dwarf Galaxies Never Were
Astronomers may have solved the case of the Milky Way’s missing satellite galaxies. The solution? The galaxies never existed.
Clouds Rain Down on Black Hole
Astronomers have detected three cold gas clumps falling toward a galaxy's center — at odds with the prevailing idea for how black holes grow.
