SUNSET: 
Our Quiet Galaxy Used to Burst with Stars
New research shows that our quiet, middle-aged galaxy used to be quite the firecracker — a couple billion years ago it was exploding with new stars.
Astronomers Find Stars Streaming from Our Galaxy’s Biggest Cluster
Astronomers have discovered a stream of stars pulled from Omega Centauri, the largest and most brilliant globular cluster around the Milky Way — and perhaps a one-time dwarf galaxy.
The Milky Way Contains the Mass of 1.5 Trillion Suns
Astronomers are using Gaia and the Hubble Space Telescope to make the most precise measure of the Milky Way’s mass to date. The new result puts our galaxy on par with — if not more massive than — Andromeda.
The Beginning of the End for the Hyades Star Cluster
New measurements from the European Space Agency’s Gaia satellite show that the young stars of the Hyades cluster are beginning to drift apart.
The Milky Way Is Warped in More Ways Than One
Astronomers mapping out luminous stars across our galaxy's disk found that the Milky Way is warped — and multiple factors are twisting its shape.
Evidence Mounts for a Magellanic Collision
Astronomers have suspected for some time that the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds collided in the recent past. The Gaia space telescope provides striking new evidence for a head-on collision.
Some Stars Around Galaxy May Be From Elsewhere
Data from the Gaia satellite reveal 20 new high-speed stars, 13 of which appear to have originated outside of the Milky Way.
The Magellanic Clouds Might Once Have Been a Trio
The Milky Way's two largest companion galaxies may have once been a threesome — but new data from the Gaia satellite leaves the satellites' history an open question.
Pattern in Milky Way's Stars Suggests Recent Galactic Whack
An unexpected pattern in the Milky Way's disk of stars points to a recent whack from another galaxy.
Gaia Maps 1.7 Billion Stars, Widens Cosmic Census
With its second data release, the European Space Agency's Gaia satellite has redefined the way we look at our galaxy.
Amateurs Take Huge Panoramic View of the Milky Way — Without a Telescope
This is what the largest available image of the Milky Way using only off-the-shelf photographic equipment looks like.
Supergiant Star Caught Fleeing In Another Galaxy
The discovery of a runaway star in the Small Magellanic Cloud suggests that runaway stars are a common phenomenon in the universe.
Our Galaxy's Center Might Hold Thousands of Black Holes
A new study has uncovered a dozen stellar-mass black holes within 3 light-years of the supermassive black hole at our galaxy’s core — and these might be just the tip of the iceberg.
Dwarf Galaxy Collision Evicted Milky Way Stars
A long-ago encounter between our galaxy and an orbiting dwarf might have ejected some of the Milky Way’s stars.
60-Second Astro News: Exoplanets, Comet 41P & Milky Way Clouds
Citizen scientists have discovered a system of five sub-Neptune planets, NASA scientists follow the spin of Comet 41P, and speedy clouds of gas shed light on the Millky Way's history.
Analog of the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds
A hunt for merging dwarf galaxies has yielded an intriguing result: 180 million light-years away, a galaxy very similar to the Milky Way — with two dwarf-galaxy satellites just like our own Magellanic clouds
Seeing the Far Side of the Milky Way
The detection of a star-forming region 66,500 light-years from Earth, on the other side of our galaxy’s center, lends weight to the existence of an extended arm of the Milky Way.
Total Solar Eclipse: All-Sky Maps
Wondering what you'll see during the total solar eclipse on August 21st? Use our all-sky maps to figure it out!
Milky Way May Be Made with Swapped Gas
High-powered simulations suggest that half of the material in the Milky Way could come from other galaxies.
Artificial Neural Network Finds Speeding Stars
Astronomers found six runaway stars when they applied a neural network to data from the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission, which is set to map a billion stars across the Milky Way and beyond.
