Astronomers have created the largest yet cosmic 3D map of quasars: bright and active centres of galaxies powered by supermassive black holes. This map shows the location of about 1.3 million quasars in space and time, with the furthest shining bright when the...

India's Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, which aced its historic landing near the moon's south pole last August, barely kicked up any moon dust during descent thanks to a unique configuration of engines, a new study reveals. As a result, its cameras got clear views of...

On March 21, spotting Saturn before sunrise will be a challenge — but you can use bright Venus nearby as a guide. Credit: Astronomy: Roen Kelly Friday, March 15The waxing Moon sits in Taurus the Bull this evening, slowly sinking in the west after sunset. Luna...

When stars grow old and die, their mass determines their ultimate fate. Many supermassive stars have futures as neutron stars. But, the question is, how massive can their neutron stars get? That’s one that Professor Fan Yizhong and his team at Purple Mountain...

The historic centre of Vienna, Austria’s capital city, is featured in this image captured on 23 June 2023.Zoom in to explore this image at its full resolution or click on the circles to learn more.Vienna lies in the northeastern corner of Austria and straddles...

NASA has launched a new computer game to help kids learn about solar eclipses ahead of the total solar eclipse on April 8 when the moon's shadow will sweep across North America. The "Snap It! An Eclipse Photo Adventure" game asks players to help an interstellar...

Objects that look like asteroids can still become active for numerous reasons. These objects are known as Centaurs and can have spots of activity and generate tails. Credit: Pamela L Gay/PSI. In 1977, astronomer Charles Kowal discovered a strange, asteroid-like...

In its first year of operation, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) made some profound discoveries. These included providing the sharpest views of iconic cosmic structures (like the Pillars of Creation), transmission spectra from exoplanet atmospheres, and...

What looks like a light sabre is actually a laser beam guided in its path through a hair-thin jet of water, in the same manner as conventional fibre optics.This water jet provides a large ‘processing depth’, allowing parallel cutting of larger samples. Its...

A nervous Jack Hathaway had one last obstacle to overcome before becoming a NASA astronaut candidate: finding the time to hear the news.Hathaway was awaiting a call in 2021 from NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, then chief of the astronaut office, to hear if he...