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Latest about stars
![An illustration of a 'runaway black hole' zooming away from its galaxy, with a trail of stars following behind it.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/uFi4zCrqtNXYjHfkfgMo9P-320-80.png)
'Runaway' black hole the size of 20 million suns caught speeding through space with a trail of newborn stars behind it
By Robert Lea last updated
Astronomers have discovered a "runaway" black hole, potentially the first observational evidence that supermassive black holes can be ejected from their host galaxies.
![An illustration of a supermassive black hole ringed with a fiery orange accretion disk ending in a thick ring of black dust](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/6biHAnpErc3sXUdneBuUcn-320-80.jpg)
Black holes may be swallowing invisible matter that slows the movement of stars
By Robert Lea published
Scientists watched as two stars slowed in their orbits around black holes, concluding it was the result of "drag" generated by dark matter.
![An illustation showing a twinkling burst of starlight at the center of a turbulent field of crackling orange radiation and glowing black holes.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/GKLjeSN7gb6erLoeZqHsHE-320-80.jpg)
The early universe was crammed with stars 10,000 times the size of our sun, new study suggests
By Paul Sutter published
When the universe's first stars emerged from the cosmic dark ages, they ballooned to 10,000 times the mass of Earth's sun, new research suggests.
![An illustration shows a bright white dwarf star shining in front of a vast sea of distant stars and galaxies](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/6uSPZnq4Zj2ZEQ458fds3G-320-80.jpg)
NASA scientists 'weigh' a white dwarf for the first time using a space-time trick predicted by Einstein
By Briley Lewis published
NASA astronomers used the Hubble Space Telescope to measure the mass of a white dwarf, an important step for understanding how stars die.
![This artist's concept shows a young star surrounded by a dusty protoplanetary disk. This disk contains the raw material that can form planets as the star system matures. Even in the closest star-forming regions, such disks are tiny and difficult to observe directly, but their strong infrared glow can easily be seen by the detectors on the Spitzer Space Telescope.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/NJXu8YFzrFu26oDcm7mrv4-320-80.jpg)
Deep space 'hurricanes' could point the way to alien worlds
By Stefanie Waldek published
When new planets form in distant solar systems, they carve out 'hurricanes' and 'vortices' in the surrounding dust that could lead astronomers straight to them.
![A color rendition of NGC 6302, the Butterfly Nebula, created from black-and-white exposures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2019 and 2020. In the violet-colored regions, strong stellar winds are actively reshaping the nebular wings over the past 900 years. The other features range in age from 1200 to 2300 years.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/je85V3sYFZpnXU3iEME2vJ-320-80.jpg)
Spectacular Butterfly Nebula offers a glimpse of our sun's final fate
By Brandon Specktor published
New time-lapse images of the beautiful Butterfly Nebula come closer to explaining its spectacular strangeness.
![The world's largest communications satellite, BlueWalker 3, is leaving strong white lines across time-lapse images of the cosmos because it is so bright.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/Mij2yd6zxsRJAPosKzaagf-320-80.jpg)
World's largest communication satellite is a photobombing menace, astronomers warn
By Harry Baker published
The International Astronomical Union has issued a warning over the newly launched BlueWalker 3 satellite, which is causing interference for both optical and radio telescopes.
![An illustration of a young planet forming from rocky asteroids. Some pieces careen off into the atmosphere of the local star.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/mrp9HGoDfwgtMPi4LbdGc7-320-80.jpg)
Crushed-up planets around dead stars could rewrite the history of the solar system
By Brandon Specktor published
A new study of white dwarfs with "polluted" atmospheres is causing scientists to rethink how and when planets form.
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