SUNSET: 
Fingerprint from the First Stars
Astronomers might have found a star that was infected by the explosive death of one of the universe’s first stars.
GRBs: A New Standard Candle?
Astronomers might be on the brink of developing a new rung on the cosmic distance ladder.
Culprit for Enigmatic Supernova?
Astronomers have detected a star in pre-explosion images of the peculiar supernova 2012Z. The detection is the first discovery of a potential progenitor for the oddball class of stellar explosions dubbed Type Iax.
Novae Surprise with Gamma Rays
Astronomers have detected gamma-ray emission from three classical novae, an unexpected discovery that has left them perplexed.
Fermi Finds "Transformer" Pulsar
NASA's Fermi Space Telescope recently spotted a pulsar in a rare transitional phase as it devours the matter of its companion star.
X-Ray Glow Evidence of Local Hot Bubble
Scientists have confirmed that the soft X-ray glow permeating the sky has two sources: one inside the solar system, one outside.
New Radio Burst Deepens Mystery
A newly discovered radio burst places these ultrafast, ultrabright pulses on the cosmic map of unknown phenomena.
The Most Distant Milky Way Stars
Astronomers have discovered two stars that lie more than 700,000 light-years from Earth, making them the most distant stellar members of our galaxy ever detected. Blogger John Bochanski tells the story of how his team found these faraway stars.
Hybrid Star Spotted in Small Magellanic Cloud
Since Thorne-Żytkow Objects were proposed forty years ago, no one has actually seen one of these exotic stellar hybrids – until now.
Cooking Up High-Mass Stars
A new study finds every stage of star formation in a single cloud, firmly backing a popular star-formation recipe.
Quark Nova Spotted in Cas A?
Two elements deep within Cassiopeia A, hint the supernova remnant underwent a quark nova — a theoretical second explosion that leaves behind a quark star — just days after the original supernova.
Sun's Sibling Found
Astronomers have confirmed that a star in the constellation Hercules is a dead ringer for one of the Sun’s long-lost brothers.
Meet the Sun's Chilly New Neighbor
Infrared observations have uncovered a cool brown dwarf that’s only about 7 light-years away. The object is one of the closest stellar systems to the Sun and the coolest brown dwarf yet discovered.
Mysteriously Bright Supernova Explained
In 2010, a mysteriously bright supernova appeared, later sparking a debate within the astronomy community. But new images of the now-faded supernova reveal an intervening — and until now invisible — cosmic lens, which magnified its light.
Watch a Star Evolve in “Real Time”
The odd behavior of a star in the heart of the Stingray Nebula provides tantalizing evidence that we may be seeing, first-hand, its helium-shell flash: an explosive phase of nuclear burning at the end of a star’s life.
Supernova Remnant in Technicolor
Take a look at this supernova remnant from radio waves to x-rays to see multiple features of its bubble-like expanding shock wave. Supernovae — the dramatic explosions of massive stars ending their lives — can outshine their host galaxies for weeks, allowing them to be seen across millions of light-years…
Rocky Encounter with Stellar Lighthouse
Asteroid debris might be bombarding a radio pulsar in the constellation Puppis.
3-D Mapping of Large Magellanic Cloud
A team of astronomers has assembled the first fully three-dimensional view of stellar motions in a nearby galaxy.
Mapping a Supernova's Radioactive Glow
A radioactive element produced near the heart of collapsing stars hints at the mechanism behind Cassiopeia A’s supernova explosion.
The Purest Star Tells an Ancient Tale
Astronomers have discovered the purest star to date. Composed almost exclusively of hydrogen and helium — with 15 million times less iron than our Sun — it illuminates what happened among the first supernovae in the early universe.
