Milky Way: Young Stars in an Old Bulge
The presence of stars just 100 million years old in the Milky Way Galaxy’s central regions confirms our galaxy’s nonviolent past.
The Inner Workings of Red Giant Stars
New research connects stellar pulsations to these stars’ inner, unobservable magnetic fields.
Searching for Exoplanets Around HL Tau
When astronomers went searching for the planets that must exist around HL Tau, they came up empty — and future searches may not fare much better.
Hubble's Stunning New Jupiter Images You Have to See
A Hubble legacy program has returned high-res pictures of Jupiter, revealing changes to the Great Red Spot and mysterious new wisps in the North Equatorial Band.
Explore Mars in Fiction and Reality
The incredibly popular novel, and now movie, The Martian draws people to the Red Planet with realistic detail. Explore the Red Planet not just in fiction but in reality with our Mars globe and map.
Making the Brightest, Rarest Galaxies
Some of the universe’s most luminous galaxies are also the most mysterious. New simulations shed light on how these galaxies formed.
Is the Milky Way's Black Hole Feeding?
The answer is a tantalizing maybe. Astronomers are investigating whether an increase in the number of flares from Sgr A* are due to the recent close passage of a dusty object known as G2.
Does the Nearest Quasar Host a Black Hole Binary?
Astronomers are investigating a new technique for finding close pairs of supermassive black holes, and they might have found one in the nearest quasar.
Is Dark Energy a Chameleon?
A lab experiment has all but nixed one of the theories of dark energy, a mysterious force pushing the universe apart.
Direct-Image Discovery of a Young Jupiter
The Gemini Planet Imager has discovered its first exoplanet, a young Jupiter still glowing with the heat of its formation.
"The Universe Is Dying" — So What?
Recent headlines proclaim that the universe is dying, but we’ve actually known that for decades. Here’s what’s really interesting about recent research on the nearby universe.
Closest Rocky Exoplanet Discovered
Super-Earth HD 219134b is just 21 light-years away, orbiting a nearby orange star that you can see from your backyard.
Cosmic Wind Erodes Distant Galaxy
On Earth, wind can transform entire landscapes - turns out the same is true in space. Galaxy NGC 4921 faces an intracluster wind that's eroding its star-forming terrain.
Own the Sky & Telescope Collection
The digital archive of Sky & Telescope magazine is an essential resource for astronomers at any level. And this weekend only, get $25 off.
Kepler Discovers Earth’s Closest Cousin Yet
The Kepler team announced today the discovery of Kepler-452b, an Earth-size planet in the “goldilocks” zone around a Sun-like star. But is it Earthlike?
Buckyballs Solve Interstellar Mystery
Soccer ball-shaped molecules lurking in the dusty corners of the Milky Way help resolve a long-standing problem.
The Most Luminous Supernova
Astronomers have discovered an exploding star that belongs to the "superluminous" class, and it's the most luminous one ever found.
Revealing Hidden Black Holes
The NuSTAR telescope has spied high-energy X-rays from five supermassive black holes shrouded in a thick veil of dust and gas, a test run that will lead to a better census of these hidden beasts.
Seeing Signs of the First Stars?
Astronomers have come upon the tantalizing signal from some of the universe’s first stars.