What's up in
Astrophysics
Latest Articles
Astronomers Say They Have Spotted the Universe’s First Stars
Theory has it that “Population III” stars brought light to the cosmos. The James Webb Space Telescope may have just glimpsed them.
Standard Model of Cosmology Survives a Telescope’s Surprising Finds
Reports that the James Webb Space Telescope killed the reigning cosmological model turn out to have been exaggerated. But astronomers still have much to learn from distant galaxies glimpsed by Webb.
The Enduring Mystery of the Dragonfly 44 Galaxy
A growing catalog of huge but dim galaxies such as Dragonfly 44 is forcing astronomers to invent new theories of galactic evolution.
Brightest-Ever Space Explosion Reveals Possible Hints of Dark Matter
A recent gamma-ray burst known as the BOAT — “brightest of all time” — appears to have produced a high-energy particle that shouldn’t exist. For some, dark matter provides the explanation.
Webb Space Telescope Snaps Its First Photo of an Exoplanet
The grainy image of a “super-Jupiter” is a sign of what’s to come as the telescope’s exoplanet observations ramp up.
What Drives Galaxies? The Milky Way’s Black Hole May Be the Key.
Supermassive black holes have come to the fore as engines of galactic evolution, but new observations of the Milky Way and its central hole don’t yet hang together.
Two Weeks In, the Webb Space Telescope Is Reshaping Astronomy
In the days after the mega-telescope started delivering data, astronomers reported new discoveries about galaxies, stars, exoplanets and even Jupiter.
The Astrophysicist Who Sculpts Stars Before They Are Born
Nia Imara is working to understand the mysterious clouds of gas and dust that collapse into stars.
Astronomers Reimagine the Making of the Planets
Observations of faraway planets have forced a near-total rewrite of the story of how our solar system came to be.