Paul Sutter

Using a phenomenon known as gravitational lensing, it might be possible to use the sun as a gigantic telescope to peer deep into space.

The cause of mysterious methane spikes on Mars may be a strange form of alien life — or it may just be interesting chemistry. Either way, something odd is happening on the Red Planet.

A long-lost moon could explain why Mars is so different from the other rocky planets in the solar system.

Every so often, astronomers detect a supernova explosion that's 100 times brighter than it should be. A new paper may reveal the strange source of these "superluminous" supernovas.

A tiny fraction of known black holes emit X-ray signals that resemble a human "heartbeat." Now, new research may finally explain the strange phenomenon.

Astronomers combed through an ancient Hindu text and discovered that it referenced a total solar eclipse that occurred roughly 6,000 years ago, making it the oldest known mention of an eclipse.

Space tourism is controversial, and there are a multitude of reasons why.

Reference The Local Bubble is a region of surprisingly low-density gas that surrounds our solar system and other nearby regions of our galaxy — and it has a violent history.

Do dead stars glow? A strange gravitational phenomenon could be generating enormous amounts of light around neutron stars, new research suggests.

While headlines around the world claimed that these galaxies were "breaking" our understanding of the Big Bang, the truth is much more nuanced — and much more interesting.

It's a fun question to tackle because it lets us dig into the messy, complicated, beautiful process of galaxy formation.

Mysterious dark matter could slosh over our planet like a wave. If it does, it may produce telltale radio waves in Earth's atmosphere, new theoretical research suggests.

Space mysteries Is there a center of the cosmos, and if so, where is it?

Space mysteries If you're in the mood to destroy an entire galaxy, you have several options, depending on your desired level of destructiveness.

Special relativity is beyond weird. Among its many statements are that moving clocks run slow and that moving rulers shrink. But how are we supposed to make sense of this?

Leftover light from the young universe has a major flaw, and we don't know how to fix it. It's the cold spot. It's just way too big and way too cold.

New research shows how disruptions to binary star systems could be the key to detecting space's most confounding substance — dark matter.

Space mysteries Astronomers are especially interested in the habitability of these kinds of planets, which always face their star with the same side, because they are incredibly common in the universe.

Space mysteries The Apollo program put humans on the moon in 1969. So why haven't we sent any more since?

Space mysteries To the unaided human eye, the night sky is resplendent with over 9,000 individual points of light, but that perspective covers only a bare fraction of the universe.

The idea is still new and requires a lot of assumptions in its calculations to make it work. Over the years, experimental results have been mixed.

Space mysteries Imagine a future where the universe, all too soon, tears itself apart. Eventually, space-time is torn asunder, rendering the universe uninhabitable.

Any day now, it could happen: We could detect an asteroid on an Earth-crossing trajectory. It might be tomorrow; it might be a thousand years from now. So what can we do about it?

Directly mapping the Milky Way is an extremely challenging task, but observations of other galaxies helped us piece together what our home galaxy looked like.