Astronomy news, features and articles

Researchers conducted the first-ever near-infrared analysis of an extragalactic recurrent nova and found it is one of the hottest nova explosions ever discovered.

A rare 'smiley face' triple conjunction is coming to Earth's morning skies on April 25, when Venus, Saturn and the crescent moon form a celestial smirk near the horizon.

About half of the non-dark matter in the universe cannot be accounted for by stars and galaxies alone. Now, scientists say previously undetected clouds of hydrogen gas could finally reveal it.

Samples drilled by the Curiosity rover on Mars have revealed abundant signs of a carbon cycle that remained hidden from orbital scans, alongside clues of how life may have been wiped out on the planet.

New research suggests that the unexpected intensity of the ongoing solar maximum may be partly tied to a lesser-known, 100-year solar cycle. If true, solar activity could spike further in the coming decades. But some experts are skeptical.

Roughly 20 "shooting stars" per hour may be visible during the peak of the Lyrid meteor shower overnight on Monday, April 21-22.

Scientists have discovered evidence of large quantities of biosignature chemicals — only known to be made by life on Earth — on an exoplanet more than 100 light-years away. It could be the most promising sign yet of alien life.

The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered Zhúlóng, a candidate for the most distant spiral galaxy in the universe. The perplexing Milky Way 'twin' dates to 1 billion years after the Big Bang, and appears too big to explain.

Solar eruptions created a northern lights display in North America and Europe overnight, with more auroras expected through Thursday.

The quasi-periodic eruptions of X-rays from a black hole 300 million light-years away are unlike any researchers have ever seen before.