Astrophysics

Gaia, Europe’s Milky Way–mapping spacecraft, shut down earlier this year. It was arguably the most important—and most overlooked—astronomy project of the 21st century

Researchers have used cosmic explosions called fast radio bursts to illuminate the intergalactic medium

A near-complete census of our interstellar neighborhood hopes to answer how stars, brown dwarfs and rogue planets form throughout the universe

Scientists are rallying to reverse ruinous proposed cuts to both NASA and the National Science Foundation

A celestial object some 15,000 light-years away is emitting bright flashes of radio and X-rays that scientists are struggling to explain

Some stars streaking through the Milky Way at millions of kilometers per hour probably trace back to a supermassive black hole in a neighboring galaxy

The quirks of light moving through gas are the cause of stellar twinkling, which can be a bane—and sometimes a boon—for astronomers

Researchers have shown that abstract mathematical functions from the frontiers of theoretical physics have a real-world use in modeling gravitational waves

Astronomical amounts of energy could be extracted from black holes—to build a gigantic bomb, for example. Experts have now implemented this principle in the laboratory

Stars like the sun might erupt with extreme explosions about once per century

If dark energy is weakening, as suggested by recent results, then the cosmos is far stranger than most physicists had supposed

It seems contrary to common knowledge, but sound can travel through some parts of space quite well