According to researchers published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, a newly discovered star designated S301 is racing around Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, at speeds reaching roughly 15,534 miles per second. Discovered in data from the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile’s Atacama … Read more
Using data from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered that IRS 3—a bloated giant star orbiting just 0.55 light-years from the Milky Way’s central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*—is actively forging silicate dust and harboring water molecules despite one of the most extreme radiation environments in the galaxy, according to a study … Read more
Astronomers have identified the first globular cluster stellar stream outside the Milky Way, located in the ultra-diffuse galaxy UGC 9050-Dw1, roughly 115 million light-years from Earth. Announced in Nature, the discovery uses archival Hubble Space Telescope data to map dark matter distribution using a new extragalactic method. For billions of years, an ancient star cluster … Read more
Chinese researchers at the Purple Mountain Observatory identified widespread corrugated structures in the Milky Way for the first time, offering fresh observational evidence to understand the galaxy’s three-dimensional architecture and dynamic evolution, according to a study published Aug. 7 in Nature Astronomy. Mapping the Milky Ways Warp Structure The Milky Way resembles a warped record, … Read more
Astronomers have discovered that star clusters do not always form with the same balance of small and large stars, challenging a foundational assumption used for more than half a century to measure galaxies, according to University of Missouri researchers who analyzed data from the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission. The finding shows that a key … Read more
August 2026 brings a rare celestial double feature as a total solar eclipse crosses parts of Greenland, Iceland, and Spain on August 12, while North America catches a partial view, immediately followed by the peak of the Perseid meteor shower under moonless skies. Stargazers are looking at one of the busiest months of the year … Read more
The Milky Way may have undergone a massive, slow-motion structural shift, with its stellar disc rotating more than 90 degrees over billions of years. Research presented by Kirill Batrakov of Durham University at the 2026 National Astronomy Meeting suggests this galactic “somersault” was likely triggered by a historic collision with the Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus galaxy, leaving the … Read more
July 2026 offers a prime window for stargazing, featuring a bright Venus in the western sky, the annual Perseid meteor shower, and optimal conditions for viewing the Milky Way. According to data provided by NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio and Stellarium, skywatchers can expect a series of celestial alignments, including the full Buck Moon and various … Read more
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Euclid space telescope has captured the largest and most detailed visible-light image ever obtained of the Milky Way’s galactic bulge. According to an ESA press release, the mosaic contains over 60 million individual stars. This data serves as a critical reference archive for future exoplanet research, allowing scientists to measure … Read more
Astronomers have identified the source of mysterious, repeating radio signals known as long-period radio transients (LPTs) as a binary star system containing a white dwarf and a red dwarf. Using the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope, an international team led by the University of Sydney pinpointed the object, designated ASKAP J174508.9-505149, confirming it … Read more