Astronomical Discoveries
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NASA’s James Webb Telescope May Have Found First Black Hole Star, Known as ‘The Cliff’
JWST detected “The Cliff,” a candidate black hole star with a black hole core wrapped in a luminous gas shell. This discovery offers insights into black hole formation, stellar evolution, and cosmic dynamics, prompting astronomers to search for similar objects across the universe.
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James Webb Space Telescope Spots Rare Protostar Blasting Twin Jets Across Milky Way
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured a rare protostar about ten times the Sun’s mass blasting twin jets nearly eight light-years long. The beams carve through the glowing Sharpless 2-284 nebula, offering astronomers a vivid glimpse into how massive stars form and shape their galactic environment.
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Universe’s First Stars May Have Been Smaller Than Astronomers Once Believed
Astronomers once thought the universe’s first stars were only massive giants. New simulations and lab experiments reveal turbulence and early chemistry allowed smaller, Sun-like stars to form too. This discovery reshapes our view of cosmic dawn, showing the first stellar generation was more diverse than previously believed.
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Exoplanets Explained: How Astronomers Find Worlds Orbiting Stars Beyond the Sun
Exoplanets are planets orbiting stars outside our solar system, hidden by stellar glare and detected indirectly. Astronomers identify them by tracking star wobbles or dips in brightness during planetary transits. NASA’s Kepler mission revealed thousands, with TESS now expanding the search. These discoveries confirm that planetary systems are abun...
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Astronomers Discover Calvera, a Runaway Pulsar Racing Above the Milky Way
Astronomers have discovered Calvera, a pulsar speeding 6,500 light-years above the Milky Way’s disk. Formed from a supernova in a nearly empty region, Calvera challenges long-held ideas of star birth and death. Its discovery reveals that extreme stellar events can occur even in the galaxy’s sparse outer halo.
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James Webb Space Telescope Spots Planet-Building Dust in the Butterfly Nebula
The James Webb Space Telescope has unveiled stunning new details of the Butterfly Nebula, a planetary nebula 3,400 light-years away. Using its infrared vision, Webb detected crystalline silicates, large dust grains, and carbon-rich PAH molecules within the nebula’s dusty torus. These discoveries reveal how dying stars recycle minerals and organic...
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A Planet Is Being Born: Astronomers Capture Rare Cosmic Snapshot
Astronomers have captured a groundbreaking sight: WISPIT 2b, a baby gas giant planet forming within a dusty, multi-ring protoplanetary disk around a young Sun-like star 430 light-years away. Infrared images from the Very Large Telescope show the planet carving a dark path in the rings as it feeds on gas and dust. This rare discovery provides the fi...
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Astronomers Capture Sharpest-Ever Solar Flare Images with NSF’s DKIST Telescope
Astronomers have achieved a major breakthrough by capturing the sharpest images of a solar flare ever recorded, using the National Science Foundation’s Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST). Observed at the hydrogen-alpha wavelength during the decay of an X1.3-class solar flare, the images unveiled hundreds of ultra-fine coronal loops averagin...
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Astronomers Detect RBFLOAT, Brightest Fast Radio Burst Ever Observed
An international team of astronomers has detected RBFLOAT, the brightest fast radio burst (FRB) ever recorded, just 130 million light-years away in Ursa Major. Detected by CHIME in March 2025, the powerful radio flash was traced to galaxy NGC-4141. Follow-up imaging with the James Webb Space Telescope revealed a faint stellar source near the burst,...
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Devil Comet’s Water Matches Earth, Strengthening Theory of Cosmic Origins
Astronomers discovered that the water in Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, known as the “Devil Comet,” is nearly identical to Earth’s. Using ALMA and IRTF data, they mapped cometary water for the first time. The findings bolster the theory that comets delivered water to Earth, enabling life’s emergence.
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Hubble Discovers White Dwarf Merger Remnant with Unusual Carbon Signature
An international team of astronomers has discovered WD 0525+526, an unusual white dwarf about 128 light-years away, using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Unlike typical white dwarfs, this star formed through a stellar merger and shows an unexpectedly high carbon content. With a mass of 1.2 Suns and a scorching surface temperature of 21,000 K, the ...
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A New 'Earth' Next Door? Scientists Detect Possible Habitable Planet Around Closest Sun-Like Star
Astronomers using JWST have detected a giant exoplanet in the habitable zone of Alpha Centauri A, our nearest Sun-like star.
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Astronomers Observe Rare Supernova–Black Hole Interaction in Early Stages
In a groundbreaking discovery, astronomers observed SN 2023zkd, a supernova that may have been triggered by close interaction with a black hole. Featuring unusual brightness peaks and extended pre-explosion activity, the event offers new insights into star black hole dynamics. Real-time AI detection played a key role, and upcoming surveys promise t...
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Astronomers Discover "Cosmic Grapes" Galaxy Packed with Star-Forming Clumps in the Early Universe
The "Cosmic Grapes" galaxy discovery sheds new light on early galaxy formation, revealing unexpected dense, star-forming clumps just 930 million years post-Big Bang. Uncovered through JWST, ALMA, and gravitational lensing, this breakthrough opens new opportunities for understanding the early cosmos.
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Twisted Jet Confirms Most Extreme Binary Black Hole System in the Universe
Astronomers have confirmed that the blazar OJ 287 hosts the most extreme binary black hole system ever found. Using a global radio telescope array, they captured an ultra-sharp image showing a dramatically bent jet—evidence of two supermassive black holes locked in orbit. The system’s 12-year flare cycle and jet twists match predictions of a sm...
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NASA’s James Webb Telescope May Have Found First Black Hole Star, Known as ‘The Cliff’
JWST detected “The Cliff,” a candidate black hole star with a black hole core wrapped in a luminous gas shell. This discovery offers insights into black hole formation, stellar evolution, and cosmic dynamics, prompting astronomers to search for similar objects across the universe.
-
James Webb Space Telescope Spots Rare Protostar Blasting Twin Jets Across Milky Way
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured a rare protostar about ten times the Sun’s mass blasting twin jets nearly eight light-years long. The beams carve through the glowing Sharpless 2-284 nebula, offering astronomers a vivid glimpse into how massive stars form and shape their galactic environment.
-
Universe’s First Stars May Have Been Smaller Than Astronomers Once Believed
Astronomers once thought the universe’s first stars were only massive giants. New simulations and lab experiments reveal turbulence and early chemistry allowed smaller, Sun-like stars to form too. This discovery reshapes our view of cosmic dawn, showing the first stellar generation was more diverse than previously believed.
-
Exoplanets Explained: How Astronomers Find Worlds Orbiting Stars Beyond the Sun
Exoplanets are planets orbiting stars outside our solar system, hidden by stellar glare and detected indirectly. Astronomers identify them by tracking star wobbles or dips in brightness during planetary transits. NASA’s Kepler mission revealed thousands, with TESS now expanding the search. These discoveries confirm that planetary systems are abun...
-
Astronomers Discover Calvera, a Runaway Pulsar Racing Above the Milky Way
Astronomers have discovered Calvera, a pulsar speeding 6,500 light-years above the Milky Way’s disk. Formed from a supernova in a nearly empty region, Calvera challenges long-held ideas of star birth and death. Its discovery reveals that extreme stellar events can occur even in the galaxy’s sparse outer halo.
-
James Webb Space Telescope Spots Planet-Building Dust in the Butterfly Nebula
The James Webb Space Telescope has unveiled stunning new details of the Butterfly Nebula, a planetary nebula 3,400 light-years away. Using its infrared vision, Webb detected crystalline silicates, large dust grains, and carbon-rich PAH molecules within the nebula’s dusty torus. These discoveries reveal how dying stars recycle minerals and organic...
-
A Planet Is Being Born: Astronomers Capture Rare Cosmic Snapshot
Astronomers have captured a groundbreaking sight: WISPIT 2b, a baby gas giant planet forming within a dusty, multi-ring protoplanetary disk around a young Sun-like star 430 light-years away. Infrared images from the Very Large Telescope show the planet carving a dark path in the rings as it feeds on gas and dust. This rare discovery provides the fi...
-
Astronomers Capture Sharpest-Ever Solar Flare Images with NSF’s DKIST Telescope
Astronomers have achieved a major breakthrough by capturing the sharpest images of a solar flare ever recorded, using the National Science Foundation’s Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST). Observed at the hydrogen-alpha wavelength during the decay of an X1.3-class solar flare, the images unveiled hundreds of ultra-fine coronal loops averagin...
-
Astronomers Detect RBFLOAT, Brightest Fast Radio Burst Ever Observed
An international team of astronomers has detected RBFLOAT, the brightest fast radio burst (FRB) ever recorded, just 130 million light-years away in Ursa Major. Detected by CHIME in March 2025, the powerful radio flash was traced to galaxy NGC-4141. Follow-up imaging with the James Webb Space Telescope revealed a faint stellar source near the burst,...
-
Devil Comet’s Water Matches Earth, Strengthening Theory of Cosmic Origins
Astronomers discovered that the water in Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, known as the “Devil Comet,” is nearly identical to Earth’s. Using ALMA and IRTF data, they mapped cometary water for the first time. The findings bolster the theory that comets delivered water to Earth, enabling life’s emergence.
-
Hubble Discovers White Dwarf Merger Remnant with Unusual Carbon Signature
An international team of astronomers has discovered WD 0525+526, an unusual white dwarf about 128 light-years away, using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. Unlike typical white dwarfs, this star formed through a stellar merger and shows an unexpectedly high carbon content. With a mass of 1.2 Suns and a scorching surface temperature of 21,000 K, the ...
-
A New 'Earth' Next Door? Scientists Detect Possible Habitable Planet Around Closest Sun-Like Star
Astronomers using JWST have detected a giant exoplanet in the habitable zone of Alpha Centauri A, our nearest Sun-like star.
-
Astronomers Observe Rare Supernova–Black Hole Interaction in Early Stages
In a groundbreaking discovery, astronomers observed SN 2023zkd, a supernova that may have been triggered by close interaction with a black hole. Featuring unusual brightness peaks and extended pre-explosion activity, the event offers new insights into star black hole dynamics. Real-time AI detection played a key role, and upcoming surveys promise t...
-
Astronomers Discover "Cosmic Grapes" Galaxy Packed with Star-Forming Clumps in the Early Universe
The "Cosmic Grapes" galaxy discovery sheds new light on early galaxy formation, revealing unexpected dense, star-forming clumps just 930 million years post-Big Bang. Uncovered through JWST, ALMA, and gravitational lensing, this breakthrough opens new opportunities for understanding the early cosmos.
-
Twisted Jet Confirms Most Extreme Binary Black Hole System in the Universe
Astronomers have confirmed that the blazar OJ 287 hosts the most extreme binary black hole system ever found. Using a global radio telescope array, they captured an ultra-sharp image showing a dramatically bent jet—evidence of two supermassive black holes locked in orbit. The system’s 12-year flare cycle and jet twists match predictions of a sm...
