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Earlier ultra-relativistic freeze-out could revive a decades-old theory for dark matter

A new theory for the origins of dark matter suggests that fast-moving, neutrino-like dark particles could have decoupled from Standard Model particles far earlier than previous theories had suggested.

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First discoveries from new Subaru Telescope program reveal massive planet and brown dwarf

Astronomers using the Subaru Telescope in Hawaiʻi have discovered a massive planet and a brown dwarf orbiting distant stars. The discoveries are the first results from OASIS (Observing Accelerators with SCExAO Imaging Survey), which combines space-based measurements with the Subaru Telescope’s advanced imaging to find hidden worlds.

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Chlorine and potassium found in supernova remnant at unexpectedly high levels

“Why are we here?” is humanity’s most fundamental and persistent question. Tracing the origins of the elements is a direct attempt to answer this at its deepest level. We know many elements are created inside stars and supernovae, which then cast them out into the universe, yet the origins of some key elements has remained […]

Astronomers find vast spinning filament of galaxies 140 million light-years away

An international team led by the University of Oxford has identified one of the largest rotating structures ever reported: a “razor-thin” string of galaxies embedded in a giant spinning cosmic filament, 140 million light-years away.

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How to catch a comet that hasn’t been discovered yet

There’s been a lot of speculation recently about interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS—much of which is probably caused by low-quality data given that we have to observe it from either Earth, or in some cases, Mars. In either case, it’s much further away than what would be the ideal. But that might not be the case for […]

Hubble seeks clusters in ‘Lost Galaxy’

This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features the spiral galaxy NGC 4535, which is situated about 50 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo (the Maiden). Through a small telescope, this galaxy appears extremely faint, giving it the nickname “Lost Galaxy.”

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Astronomers warn satellite growth may contaminate nearly all space telescope data

Light from the half a million satellites that humanity is planning to launch into Earth’s orbit in the coming years could contaminate almost all the images taken by space telescopes, NASA astronomers warned Wednesday.

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Solar wind storms may explain mystery surrounding Uranus’ radiation belts

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) scientists believe they may have resolved a 39-year-old mystery about the radiation belts around Uranus.

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These two galaxies are tying the knot and producing stars

Galaxies like our Milky Way grew through cascading mergers of smaller galaxies that began billions of years ago. The ancient progenitors of galaxies like ours were small galaxies similar to modern-day dwarf galaxies like the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. Research shows that both dwarf galaxies and ancient galaxies are less massive, have lower metallicity, […]

Simulations reveal how black holes generate intense light from infalling matter

Surprisingly, some of the universe’s brightest objects are black holes. As scorching gas and dust flow around and into a black hole, they glow with fierce intensity across the light spectrum. Now, a team of computational astrophysicists has developed the most comprehensive simulations ever made of how black holes create these dazzling light shows.

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What seven decades of hunting for aliens tells us

Since the 1950s, humanity has been searching for extraterrestrial life with increasingly sophisticated tools. But after decades of space probes, meteorite analysis, radio telescopes, and UFO investigations, what have we actually found? A new piece of analysis by a team led by Seyed Sina Seyedpour Layalestani from the Islamic Azad University in Iran has looked […]

Asteroid loaded with amino acids offers new clues about the origin of life on Earth

One of the most elegant theories about the origins of life on our planet is that it was kick-started by a delivery from outer space. This idea suggests that prebiotic molecules—the building blocks of life—were transported here by asteroids or other celestial bodies. While these molecules have been found in meteorite samples that have crash-landed […]

Local space weather impacts on technology and safety vary more than expected

A strong geomagnetic storm in spring 2024 brought the northern lights unusually far south, as the auroral oval expanded well beyond its typical position. “I am surprised at how sparse the measurement network is, even though we know that the impacts of space weather can vary greatly from one area to another,” says Doctoral Researcher […]

Dark matter-dark energy interaction shapes cosmic halo spin and alignment, simulations show

A cosmological simulation study by researchers from the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has systematically revealed, for the first time, how the interaction between dark matter and dark energy significantly influences the rotation and shape alignment of dark matter halos in the universe.

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Quasi-periodic oscillations detected in unusual multi-trigger gamma-ray burst

A new study led by the Yunnan Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has detected quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) signals in an unusual gamma-ray burst (GRB) event. The findings are published in The Astrophysical Journal.

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