When you buy through links in our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn commission. A drawing shows what the universe might look like when it’s less than 1 billion years old. | Credit: NASA, ESA and A. Schaller (for STScI) When NASA’s next great extraterrestrial observatory, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, opens… Read More »
When you buy through links in our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn commission. A white disk with dark bands running through it and long purple lines coming out of its poles. Next to it is a wavy orange square. | Credit: ESA/Hubble, L. Calçada (ESO) / C Richards/MD Smith/University of Kent Galaxies… Read More »
Forget “little green men”; it was the “little red dots” in the infant universe that caught the eye of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Scientists say the strange red objects hide stars that models suggest are “too old” to have existed in early cosmic times, as well as black holes thousands of times more… Read More »
Curious Kids is a series for kids of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com. Why are there small and large black holes? Also, why are some black holes invisible while others have white outlines? – Sedra and Humaid, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Black… Read More »
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have detected a supermassive black hole that appears incredibly massive at “cosmic dawn.” The confusion stems from the fact that this huge void did not appear to be fed by much of the material in the environment at the time; but to reach its enormous size, it… Read More »
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news about fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. Astronomers are witnessing a sight never before seen in the universe: the awakening of a supermassive black hole at the center of a distant galaxy. In late 2019, a team of astronomers noticed an otherwise… Read More »
Just 900 million years after the Big Bang, a pair of quasars have been discovered spiraling towards a massive merger, illuminating the “cosmic dawn”. They are the first quasar The couple was detected this far back in cosmic time. Quasars are growing rapidly supermassive black holes in the nuclei of the hyperactive galaxies. Showers of… Read More »
If you were attacked by a greedy vampire star or risked falling into two dueling black holes, you’d probably run away too! One of these terrifying scenarios is likely responsible for sending a low-mass star across the Milky Way at a staggering million miles per hour (1.6 million kilometers per hour). This is approximately 1,500… Read More »
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news about fascinating discoveries, scientific breakthroughs and more. For nearly 50 years, the scientific community has been grappling with an important problem: There is not enough visible matter in the universe. All the matter we can see—stars, planets, cosmic dust, and everything in… Read More »
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news about fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. For nearly 50 years, the scientific community has been grappling with an important problem: There is not enough visible matter in the universe. All the matter we can see—stars, planets, cosmic dust, and everything in… Read More »