Robert Lea

A collision between the Milky Way and neighboring galaxy Andromeda is far from a sure thing; in fact, it could hinge on the flip of a cosmic coin.

NASA's X-ray space telescope IXPE has made the first observation of polarized light emerging from an outbursting magnetar, neutron stars that possess the universe's strongest magnetic fields.

The James Webb Space Telescope has done it again, discovering the "mother of all early galaxies," a record-breaking distant object that existed just 280 billion years after the Big Bang.

Astronomers have spotted a supermassive black hole ripping apart and devouring a star in colliding galaxies. It is only the second time a tidal disruption event has been seen in interacting galaxies.

The mystery surrounding a strange cosmic object, or 'long-period transient,' has deepened. This object is bursting with X-rays, and astronomers describe it as unlike anything seen before.

Using the Dark Energy Camera astronomers have found a packed stellar nursery of infant stars in the dark nebula in the 180-light-year-wide Circinus West molecular cloud.

Using the Hubble Space Telescope and an array of other instruments, astronomers have probed supernova wreckage in the Large Magellanic Cloud, the galaxy next door.

Super-Earths can exist in wider orbits around their parent stars than was previously believed, suggesting these Earth-like exoplanets could be more common than we thought.

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have peered into galaxies that existed at cosmic noon to hunt ravenously feeding black holes and bursts of starbirth.

On Thursday, April 24, 2025, the Hubble Space Telescope will celebrate 35 years in space. Can it still hold its own and prove useful when compared to instruments like the James Webb Space Telescope?

A massive clump of dark matter in the Perseus galaxy cluster is linked to its core by a bridge of dark matter, evidence of a history of mergers.

Using the James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered "smoking gun" evidence of a hidden feeding supermassive black hole in a distant spiral galaxy.

New research suggests that the largest cosmic structure is even bigger and closer to Earth than we knew. It goes against scientists' models of cosmic evolution.

Using the Hubble and Gaia space telescopes, astronomers have discovered that a powerfully magnetic neutron star in the Milky Way wasn't born in a supernova.

Astronomers have discovered the weirdest planetary system ever seen, consisting of a planet rolling around rare binary "failed star" brown dwarfs at a 90-degree tilted angle!

Scientists have developed a cosmic car radio that could tune into the frequency of axions, a prime dark matter suspect.

The James Webb Space Telescope has spotted the most distant spiral galaxy ever seen, a "Milky Way twin" that existed 1 billion years after the Big Bang.

A new cosmic model suggests that singularities could briefly pop into existence, spewing matter and energy into the cosmos, negating the need for dark energy and dark matter.

NASA astronaut Don Pettit and two cosmonaut colleagues will return to Earth from the International Space Station on Saturday night (April 19), if all goes to plan.

The universe could be packed with dark matter haloes that have no galaxy fillings.

The Large Magellanic Cloud and Small Magellanic Cloud are at war, with the larger of these dwarf galaxies ripping the other apart.

Astronomers have used space-based telescopes, including NASA's Swift X-ray observatory, to watch a monster black hole spring to life with powerful X-ray eruptions.

Using the Hubble Space Telescope, astronomers have, for the first time, directly detected the merger of star clusters at the heart of dwarf galaxies.