A small team led by Sihao Cheng, Martin A. and Helen Chooljian Member in the School of Natural Sciences, has discovered an extraordinary trans-Neptunian object (TNO) at the edge of our solar system. The TNO is potentially large enough to qualify as a dwarf planet, the same category as the much more well-known Pluto. The discovery has significant implications for our understanding of the Kuiper Belt and hypotheses that surround the existence of Planet Nine.

Cosmic radiation occasionally contains enormous amounts of energy, but we don’t know why or where this radiation comes from. New research may have found the answer.

Researchers from the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at Peking University and the University of Cologne have provides rare insight into how stars and planets may emerge under extreme galactic conditions.

Astronomers have observed a massive and extremely active barred spiral galaxy in the early Universe and found that it has important similarities and differences with modern galaxies. This improves our understanding of how barred spiral galaxies, like our own Milky Way Galaxy, grow and evolve.