SUNSET: 
A Black Hole’s Puzzling X-Ray Bursts
In 2019, a supermassive black hole in a galaxy 300 million light-years away woke up. Now, it’s puzzling astronomers with an unexpected slowdown in its X-ray bursts.
How Tilted Orbits Impact Supermassive Black Hole Collisions
What factors impact how long it takes for a supermassive black hole binary to merge?
Dwarf Galaxy Has "Too Many" Satellites
While small galaxies are expected to have even smaller satellite galaxies, astronomers have found a surprising number of tiny companions around one dwarf galaxy.
We Have Visitors: Interstellar Material from Nearby Debris Disks
Traversing the galaxy from places yet known, a few interstellar objects have taken a quick dip into our solar system. Astronomers look to nearby planet-forming stellar systems as possible launching posts.
Boosting the Gravitational Wave Background
Why is the gravitational-wave background — the hum made by supermassive black holes colliding across the universe — stronger than expected?
The Sun Left Home in a Hurry
By exploring the edge of the solar system, astronomers have estimated how long our star stuck around its siblings after birth.
Gravitational Wave Detectors Spot Merging Black Holes That Have Merged Before
Two recent discoveries of black hole mergers add to the evidence that such mergers happen over and over again.
Distant Little Red Dot Hosts a Huge (and Growing) Black Hole
A "little red dot" galaxy from when the universe was roughly half a billion years old shows signs of the most distant black hole known.
A Candidate Direct-Collapse Black Hole in the Infinity Galaxy
Researchers have discovered a rare ring-galaxy duo that appears to harbor a supermassive black hole formed through direct collapse
Plumes from Saturn's Moon Enceladus Might Come Straight from Its Hidden Ocean
Researchers reanalyzing Cassini data think the plumes from Enceladus might provide direct access to the Saturnian moon's underground ocean.
Flame Nebula Images Show Star Formation Turnover for the First Time
For the first time, researchers have identified a turnover in the initial mass function of a star cluster.
Confirmed at Last: Barnard’s Star Hosts Four Tiny Planets
Following decades of disproven claims, four small exoplanets have been confirmed to orbit Barnard’s Star, the second-closest star system.
Cracking Crusts Might Set Neutron Star Speed Limit
New research explores how the cracking of a neutron star’s crust might determine how fast these extreme stellar remnants can spin.
Charting the Cosmic Shoreline: Which Planets Have Atmospheres?
Which of the nearly 6,000 known exoplanets have atmospheres? With help from the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers are inching closer to an answer.
A Bubbly Origin for Odd Radio Circles
Discovered in 2019, odd radio circles (ORCs) are among the newest and most mysterious astrophysical phenomena. New research examines how bubbles blown by black hole jets could create these striking features.
Searching Five Million Stars for Disks, Debris, and Dyson Spheres
Stars with more infrared emission than expected might host planet-forming disks, rubble from planetary collisions, or maybe even signs of technologically advanced civilizations.
Gliese 229 B’s Newfound Companion Solves Brown Dwarf Mystery
A 1995 Hubble Space Telescope image of the brown dwarf Gliese 229 B next to its far brighter host star, the M dwarf Gliese 229 A. S. Kulkarni (Caltech), D.Golimowski (JHU) and NASA Astronomers recently discovered a companion to Gliese 229 B, the first confidently identified brown dwarf. This discovery…
The Decade-long Hunt for Arrokoth, a Strange New World in the Outer Solar System
Almost 10 years ago, New Horizons finally zipped by Pluto, returning fantastic images. But then it needed a new destination.
A Baby Planet Reveals Its Hiding Place
New analysis reveals evidence of a super-Earth-mass exoplanet forming in the disk surrounding the star TW Hydrae.
The Hubble Ultra-Deep Field, 15 Years Later
Fifteen years ago, the Hubble Space Telescope gazed intently at the infrared glow of galaxies in a tiny fraction of the sky. New research shows how this patch of space has changed since then.
