SUNSET: 
Is Our Sun Slowing Down in Its Middle Age?
The Sun, now halfway through its life, might be slowing its magnetic activity, which could lead to permanent changes in the sunspots and auroras we see.
Discovery of a Free-Floating Double Planet?
An object previously identified as a free-floating, large Jupiter analog turns out to be two objects — each with the mass of a few Jupiters. This system is the lowest-mass binary we’ve ever discovered.
100 Billion Brown Dwarfs in the Milky Way?
A new study of a nearby cluster of newly formed stars reveals that brown dwarfs may rival stars in the Milky Way in number, with one brown dwarf for every two bona fide stars.
Brown Dwarfs vs. Stars: What Makes a Star a Star?
At what point does a clump of gas ignite, turning into a star? Astronomers now have an answer to what makes a star — and what makes a brown dwarf.
Mini-Flares Might Threaten Life Around Red Dwarf Stars
A new study of data archived from the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) spacecraft is revealing just how hard life might be on planets like those in the TRAPPIST-1 system.
Can We Explain the Curious Case of Tabby's Star?
New ideas have emerged to explain Tabby's Star, officially known as KIC 8462852, but the jury's still out on the cause of the star's weird behavior.
Homing in on the Source of a Mysterious Fast Radio Burst
Ground- and space-based observations have now shed intriguing new light on a mysterious radio source more than 3 billion light-years away.
Potential “Failed Supernova” Black Hole Discovered
Astronomers may have watched a star collapse directly into a black hole — minus the supernova. The failed supernova could help understand how stars die.
Brown Dwarfs Mimic Their Big Stellar Siblings
Two recent studies suggest that brown dwarfs, or so-called “failed stars,” are nevertheless more like stars than planets.
Finally! The Galaxy’s Most Mysterious Star Is Dimming
Tabby's star, otherwise known as the most mysterious star in the galaxy, is dipping drastically in brightness, giving astronomers an opportunity to figure out what has been causing this star's weird behavior.
ALMA Captures Stellar Fireworks in Orion
Stellar fireworks are what remains of a centuries-old explosion, the concussive consequence of four stars that came together in a gravitational tussle.
Stars Born in Galactic Wind
Astronomers have found newborn stars in gas pouring out of a galactic nucleus.
Runaway Star Points to Stellar Nursery Free-for-all
The discovery of a runaway star in Hubble's image of the Orion Nebula suggests a stellar tussle ejected three stars 540 years ago.
Seven-Planet Star Hides Age, Might Be Deadly
The star with seven exoplanets puts out enough high-energy radiation to tear away the inner planets’ atmospheres in a few billion years.
Happy 30th Birthday, Supernova 1987A
The first naked-eye supernova since the invention of the telescope lit up the global astronomy world on the morning of February 23, 1987, as news spread by phone and teletype. Supernova 1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud eventually reached magnitude 2.9, before beginning a long fade and a cascade of…
Two Pulsars Blowing in the Wind
New images of two pulsars show beautiful, complex clouds of charged particles that illustrate the power dynamics in and around these spinning neutron stars.
Massive Stars Grow By Eating Finger Food
Astronomers don’t understand how the galaxy’s most massive stars form, but a new simulation sheds light on the process of stellar birth.
Proxima Centauri b Likely a Desert World
Astronomers suspect the Sun’s closest stellar neighbor desiccated its potentially rocky exoplanet, destroying the planet’s chances for habitability.
Paired Stars in Cygnus En Route to Merger
Astronomers suspect that a binary star system in Cygnus is preparing to make one star of two, erupting in a red nova visible to the naked eye.
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.
