{"@attributes":{"version":"2.0"},"channel":{"title":"Astronomy News - Space News, Exploration News, Earth Science News, Earth Science","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/space-news\/astronomy\/","language":"en-us","description":"The latest science news on astronomy, space, and astrophysics.","item":[{"title":"MUSE maps spiral galaxy W2246f, uncovering old core and ongoing star formation across disk","description":"Astronomers have employed the Multi-Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) to perform deep spectroscopic observations of a peculiar spiral galaxy known as W2246f. Results of the observational campaign, published May 27 on the pre-print server arXiv, offer new insights into how this galaxy evolved and shed more light on its nature.","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-06-muse-spiral-galaxy-w2246f-uncovering.html","category":"Astronomy","pubDate":"Sat, 06 Jun 2026 12:00:01 EDT","guid":"news699872311"},{"title":"Did this star eat its planets? A new study offers clues on 'chemical paradox' of a binary system","description":"Astronomers have investigated a puzzling binary star system in which two stars that may have formed together now show dramatically different chemical compositions. The new study, uploaded to the arXiv preprint server on May 29, hints at the possibility that one of the stars may have swallowed its own planets.","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-06-star-planets-clues-chemical-paradox.html","category":"Astronomy","pubDate":"Fri, 05 Jun 2026 16:40:01 EDT","guid":"news699871330"},{"title":"Webb unveils young stars across every stage of formation","description":"For this NASA\/ESA\/CSA James Webb Space Telescope Picture of the Month, we return to the constellation Orion (the Hunter), a location familiar to Webb. This area of the sky is replete with star-forming clouds that make up a complex hundreds of light-years across. We find ourselves in the giant molecular cloud Orion A, of which the familiar Orion Nebula (also known as M42) is just a part; Webb has taken both close-up and wide-angle looks at M42 before.","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-06-webb-unveils-young-stars-stage.html","category":"Astronomy","pubDate":"Fri, 05 Jun 2026 13:00:02 EDT","guid":"news699878281"},{"title":"Magnetic field helps binary star systems form, new simulations indicate","description":"New simulations show that interactions with a magnetic field can work to decrease the distance between still forming binary protostars. These results can help explain the characteristics of the binary star systems observed in the Milky Way. The results can also be extrapolated to binary black holes, giving insights into how supermassive black holes evolve.","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-06-magnetic-field-binary-star-simulations.html","category":"Astronomy","pubDate":"Fri, 05 Jun 2026 11:40:07 EDT","guid":"news699875938"},{"title":"Image: Colorful, chaotic Jupiter","description":"NASA's Juno spacecraft captured this color-enhanced view of Jupiter's northern hemisphere during its 61st close flyby of the giant planet on May 12, 2024.","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-06-image-chaotic-jupiter.html","category":"Astronomy","pubDate":"Thu, 04 Jun 2026 22:40:02 EDT","guid":"news699795434"},{"title":"Record ultraviolet quasar wind reaches 30% light speed near supermassive black hole","description":"A team led by York University researchers has discovered the fastest wind near a supermassive black hole ever found at ultraviolet wavelengths, driven by the disk of matter (quasar) surrounding the black hole.","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-06-ultraviolet-quasar-supermassive-black-hole.html","category":"Astronomy","pubDate":"Thu, 04 Jun 2026 17:20:01 EDT","guid":"news699803941"},{"title":"JWST 'weighs' dormant black hole 10 billion light-years away","description":"The most distant, nearly invisible dormant black hole has been detected and \"weighed\" by an international team of astronomers that includes researchers from UCL. The study, published in Science, identified a dormant black hole at the heart of a galaxy known as MRG-M0138 located over 10 billion light years away. It is the most distant dormant black hole yet detected, 15 times farther away than the previous record.","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-06-jwst-dormant-black-hole-billion.html","category":"Astronomy","pubDate":"Thu, 04 Jun 2026 14:00:11 EDT","guid":"news699784502"},{"title":"Jupiter bow shock reveals electrons accelerating to relativistic speeds","description":"Electrons around Jupiter have been caught in the process of being accelerated, revealing a potentially unified mechanism for particle acceleration. The findings, published in Nature, may help constrain how energetic particles are produced throughout the universe.","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-06-jupiter-reveals-electrons-relativistic.html","category":"Astronomy","pubDate":"Thu, 04 Jun 2026 12:00:07 EDT","guid":"news699786541"},{"title":"Milky Way black hole's missing wind finally found after a half-century-long search","description":"The hunt is over. After more than 50 years of searching, astrophysicists at Northwestern University have finally discovered evidence of a powerful wind blowing from the Milky Way's central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*).","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-06-milky-black-hole-century.html","category":"Astronomy","pubDate":"Thu, 04 Jun 2026 10:00:01 EDT","guid":"news699699301"},{"title":"The next-generation Very Large Array prototype gathers its first light","description":"The Very Large Array, the iconic field of radio antennas featured in the film \"Contact\" (inspired by Carl Sagan's novel), has a long and distinguished history of service. But after more than 45 years of studying the radio sky and probing the mysteries of the universe, the U.S. National Science Foundation National Radio Astronomy Observatory, which operates the VLA, is looking to create a new generation of telescopes that will pick up where the VLA leaves off.","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-06-generation-large-array-prototype.html","category":"Astronomy","pubDate":"Wed, 03 Jun 2026 21:20:02 EDT","guid":"news699700492"},{"title":"Brightness 'gap' in ancient star cluster reveals missing red dwarfs","description":"Scientists from the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, sought to study one stellar subject and ended up finding something even more exciting. The team's results published today in Astronomy & Astrophysics.","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-06-brightness-gap-ancient-star-cluster.html","category":"Astronomy","pubDate":"Wed, 03 Jun 2026 16:40:04 EDT","guid":"news699720313"},{"title":"Most detailed map of the universe's hidden magnetic fields released","description":"The largest magnetic map of the universe ever produced\u2014five times larger than all previous efforts combined\u2014marks the beginning of a new generation of research into intergalactic magnetism. Magnetic fields influence how galaxies grow, how matter moves through space, and how the universe has evolved over billions of years.","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-06-universe-hidden-magnetic-fields.html","category":"Astronomy","pubDate":"Wed, 03 Jun 2026 13:40:02 EDT","guid":"news699707027"},{"title":"HETDEX opens massive Cosmic Noon dataset to scientists, novices and AI","description":"The Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX)\u2014which recently completed the largest survey ever taken of the early universe\u2014has released all of its immense, information-rich database to the public. Built from more than half a petabyte of raw and processed data, it will allow astronomers to study how the first galaxies formed and evolved, measure how gas and stars were distributed within these galaxies, map the large-scale structure of the cosmos, and investigate rare and unexpected objects not easily found in traditional surveys.","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-06-hetdex-massive-cosmic-noon-dataset.html","category":"Astronomy","pubDate":"Wed, 03 Jun 2026 12:33:25 EDT","guid":"news699708781"},{"title":"'BBQ sauce' phase may link little red dots to quasars","description":"Everyone knows that finding the right sauce recipe can make or break a barbecue, but now astronomers are using BBQSORS (pronounced \"barbecue sauce\") as part of the recipe to explain quasars, some of the brightest objects in the universe. These results were made possible by data from a new instrument on the Subaru Telescope.","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-06-bbq-sauce-phase-link-red.html","category":"Astronomy","pubDate":"Wed, 03 Jun 2026 12:20:05 EDT","guid":"news699703202"},{"title":"Distant blazar OP 313 emits very high-energy gamma rays above 100 GeV","description":"An international team of astronomers have employed one of the Large-Sized Telescopes (LSTs) at the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) to observe a distant blazar known as OP 313. Results of the observational campaign, published May 26 on the arXiv preprint server, shed more light on the behavior and nature of this object.","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-06-distant-blazar-op-emits-high.html","category":"Astronomy","pubDate":"Wed, 03 Jun 2026 09:20:04 EDT","guid":"news699634088"},{"title":"Astronomers uncover statistical evidence for recoiling supermassive black holes","description":"Galactic collisions are events of breathtaking proportions. The supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at their centers plunge into a chaotic orbital dance that eventually coalesce into a single remnant. On their way to that point, they could eventually get \"kicked\" out of the center of their galaxy\u2014and finding these \"recoiling\" black holes has been a challenge of cosmology for decades. A new paper, made available on the arXiv preprint server by an international team, used a novel idea to track down these fast-moving behemoths.","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-06-astronomers-uncover-statistical-evidence-recoiling.html","category":"Astronomy","pubDate":"Wed, 03 Jun 2026 08:40:01 EDT","guid":"news699693842"},{"title":"Are JWST's early, overmassive black holes just normal-range outliers?","description":"Ever since the JWST revealed a population of SMBH in the early universe that were overmassive, scientists have been working hard to explain them. These black holes existed when the universe was only about 2 billion years old, during Cosmic Noon, and according to our models of black hole growth, there simply wasn't enough time for them to grow so massive.","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-06-jwst-early-overmassive-black-holes.html","category":"Astronomy","pubDate":"Tue, 02 Jun 2026 23:20:01 EDT","guid":"news699613782"},{"title":"How heavy can a neutron star get?","description":"The physics of neutron stars are almost too fantastic to believe: something the weight of two suns compacted to a sphere the size of a city. Each teaspoon of its material would weigh billions of tons. If you've done any reading on the topic, you've heard these facts before. But despite the intense interest these extreme objects hold, we are still actively learning lots about them.","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-06-heavy-neutron-star.html","category":"Astronomy","pubDate":"Tue, 02 Jun 2026 22:00:01 EDT","guid":"news699602282"},{"title":"Small Magellanic Cloud is being pulled apart, reshaping how astronomers read its past","description":"Using more than a decade of observations from the VISTA Survey of the Magellanic Clouds (VMC), researchers measured the motions of millions of stars across the Small Magellanic Cloud with unprecedented precision. The new study, published in Astronomy & Astrophysics, provides direct evidence of a galaxy-wide tidal disruption of the Small Magellanic Cloud from its interaction with the Large Magellanic Cloud.","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-06-small-magellanic-cloud-reshaping-astronomers.html","category":"Astronomy","pubDate":"Tue, 02 Jun 2026 18:00:04 EDT","guid":"news699624660"},{"title":"Dormant black hole revives in under three years, brightening 10-fold in nearby galaxy","description":"Astronomers monitoring a nearby active galaxy for six years have watched its supermassive black hole dramatically wake up, brightening by a factor of 10 across ultraviolet and X-ray wavelengths. The paper outlining the study was posted to the preprint server arXiv on May 18.","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-06-dormant-black-hole-revives-years.html","category":"Astronomy","pubDate":"Tue, 02 Jun 2026 09:00:01 EDT","guid":"news699524122"},{"title":"Strange winds on seven hot Jupiters reveal strongest signs yet of exoplanet magnetic activity","description":"A team of astronomers has found the strongest evidence yet that some planets outside our solar system may be magnetic. Using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (ESO's VLT) and the Gemini North telescope, the researchers measured wind speeds on seven very hot, Jupiter-like exoplanets.","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-06-strange-hot-jupiters-reveal-strongest.html","category":"Astronomy","pubDate":"Tue, 02 Jun 2026 05:00:01 EDT","guid":"news699525902"},{"title":"Roman telescope's massive infrared mirror is ready to fly","description":"NASA has completed its final inspection of the primary mirror on the Roman Space Telescope, which measures 2.4 meters (7.9 feet) in diameter and contains a layer of silver hundreds of times thinner than a human hair, at 400 nanometers.","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-06-roman-telescope-massive-infrared-mirror.html","category":"Astronomy","pubDate":"Mon, 01 Jun 2026 21:20:01 EDT","guid":"news699524570"},{"title":"First direct view tracks planet-forming disk spinning around AB Aurigae","description":"The rotation of a protoplanetary disk (a disk where planets are being formed) has been observed directly for the very first time by mapping the emissions from the dust grains within it. The disk in question surrounds the young star AB Aurigae. Although it appears to generally rotate in accordance with the laws of physics, certain regions close to the star show an unexpected departure from this behavior. A body of evidence suggests that this anomaly is caused by the presence of giant planets in the process of formation.","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-06-view-tracks-planet-disk-ab.html","category":"Astronomy","pubDate":"Mon, 01 Jun 2026 13:20:05 EDT","guid":"news699535021"},{"title":"Longest-period young transiting exoplanets discovered","description":"It's 2234, you're on your annual class field trip touring exoplanets, and your teacher informs everyone they can pick one more exoplanetary system to explore before heading back to Earth. You and your classmates are exhausted from the day's activities and you're hungry. However, you get really excited because you already know what everyone will want. You and your classmates all shout in unison, \"The young and far away puffy ones!\"","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-06-longest-period-young-transiting-exoplanets.html","category":"Astronomy","pubDate":"Mon, 01 Jun 2026 10:50:37 EDT","guid":"news699529718"},{"title":"One of our planets may be missing, and it could explain why the solar system looks the way it does","description":"Our solar system has two ice giants, Uranus and Neptune, but there may have been a third. According to a new study published in the journal Icarus, this extra world might have triggered a violent planetary shuffling billions of years ago that could have disrupted some of Jupiter's and Uranus's moons and possibly led to the formation of others.","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-06-planets-solar.html","category":"Astronomy","pubDate":"Mon, 01 Jun 2026 10:00:05 EDT","guid":"news699524109"},{"title":"Hubble captures M88 on journey to center of Virgo cluster","description":"The focus of this NASA\/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image is an active spiral galaxy on a journey lasting hundreds of millions of years. The galaxy Messier 88 (M88), also known as NGC 4501, is located about 63 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices (Berenice's Hair).","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-06-hubble-captures-m88-journey-center.html","category":"Astronomy","pubDate":"Mon, 01 Jun 2026 09:20:01 EDT","guid":"news699522421"},{"title":"A giant star may have destroyed itself in one of the universe's rarest explosions","description":"Astronomers may have discovered one of the clearest examples yet of a rare \"pair-instability\" supernova. It is a catastrophic explosion thought to completely destroy some of the most massive stars in the universe, leaving behind no remnant. The paper outlining the properties of this rare explosion was posted to the arXiv preprint server  on May 15.","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-05-giant-star-destroyed-universe-rarest.html","category":"Astronomy","pubDate":"Mon, 01 Jun 2026 06:30:01 EDT","guid":"news699267698"},{"title":"Student astronomer discovers 'Rosetta Stone' for mysterious cosmic signals","description":"An international team led by astronomers at the University of Sydney has uncovered the clearest evidence yet for the origin of an unusual class of cosmic signals. In doing so, they have identified a rare stellar system that is providing scientists with a natural laboratory to study extreme physics.","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-05-student-astronomer-rosetta-stone-mysterious.html","category":"Astronomy","pubDate":"Mon, 01 Jun 2026 05:00:04 EDT","guid":"news699265141"},{"title":"Supermassive black holes could be the universe's biggest planet nurseries","description":"Supermassive black holes are the largest known black holes in the universe, sitting at the center of most large galaxies. They are sometimes described as cosmic monsters because they feed on surrounding gas and dust when they are active, as well as destroy anything that gets too close. But their reputation could be due for a rethink, as a new paper published on the arXiv preprint server suggests they may also be the birthplace of millions of planets.","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-05-supermassive-black-holes-universe-biggest.html","category":"Astronomy","pubDate":"Sun, 31 May 2026 14:00:03 EDT","guid":"news699280688"},{"title":"JWST finds a stellar bar in the early universe that breaks all rules","description":"Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have discovered a stellar bar in GN20, a massive galaxy seen just 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang. The new paper was submitted to the preprint server arXiv on May 14.","link":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2026-05-jwst-stellar-bar-early-universe.html","category":"Astronomy","pubDate":"Sun, 31 May 2026 08:50:02 EDT","guid":"news698923618"}]}}