3+ day, 5+ hour ago   (625+ words) We assume the Universe looks broadly the same no matter where you are or which way you look. A study is throwing that assumption into doubt. When scientists say that the Universe is isotropic, it means that on the largest…...

3+ day, 23+ hour ago   (585+ words) The Star-Spangled Republic argues America's history can be told through the story of its astronomy Why does the American flag contain stars? Why do we call actors and sportspeople ‘stars’? Eran Shalev argues the answers lie in what he calls…...

4+ day, 40+ min ago   (962+ words) Astronomers have found an enormous proto-supercluster 5,000 times bigger than our Galaxy Astronomers have peered back into the early Universe to a time shortly after the Big Bang and discovered an enormous, gargantuan cosmic structure taking shape. Located in a region…...

4+ day, 20+ hour ago   (587+ words) Analysis of 79 ‘solar twins’ suggests we’re different – but not special We’re not special. If astronomy has taught us anything over the last few centuries, it’s this: rather than being the centre of the Universe, we live on a perfectly everyday…...

5+ day, 1+ hour ago   (1892+ words) Interview with astronomer Cyrielle Opitom who co-led a study of comet 3I/ATLAS using the Very Large Telescope Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is one of the biggest stories in space science in recent years. From the moment of its discovery in July…...

1+ week, 1+ hour ago   (317+ words) Study examines whether microbes might survive the journey between Earth and Venus A study suggests that microscopic life blasted off Earth by asteroid impacts could have reached Venus’s atmosphere over billions of years – raising the possibility that any life in…...

1+ week, 1+ day ago   (266+ words) Dust-cloud ‘light echoes’ allowed astronomers to pinpoint the distances to our Galaxy’s spiral arms The Milky Ways’s most distant spiral arms may extend significantly farther into space than previously believed, meaning fundamental models of our home Galaxy may need to…...

1+ week, 2+ day ago   (24+ words) We’ll soon see the flash when two alien planets collide – and it'll dramatically transform our understanding of the Universe BBC Sky at Night Magazine...

1+ week, 4+ day ago   (502+ words) Astronomers have found a small, dark object that's so impossible to see, it can only be detected by the way its gravity distorts space. It's the lowest-mass dark object ever found in the Universe, and was discovered by using a…...

2+ week, 2+ day ago   (1382+ words) There are a staggering number of planets wandering the Galaxy, not tied to any star Round and round Earth goes, year after year, bound by gravity to our Sun. Yet imagine I were to tell you that Earth is in…...