Giant star laid bare: reveals birthplace of silicon and sulfur
Peer-Reviewed Publication
In honor of Global Astronomy Month, we’re exploring the science of space. Learn how astronomy connects us through curiosity, discovery, and a shared wonder for what lies beyond.
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 24-Dec-2025 14:11 ET (24-Dec-2025 19:11 GMT/UTC)
Stars die and vanish from sight all the time, but astronomers were puzzled when one that had been stable for more than a decade almost disappeared for eight months.
A new Durham University study has found that a giant impact may not be responsible for the formation of Jupiter's remarkable ‘dilute’ core, challenging a theory about the planet's history.
The mystery at Jupiter's heart has taken a fresh twist – as new research suggests a giant impact may not have been responsible for the formation of its core. It had been thought that a colossal collision with an early planet containing half of Jupiter's core material could have mixed up the central region of the gas giant, enough to explain its interior today. But a new study published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society suggests its make-up is actually down to how the growing planet absorbed heavy and light materials as it formed and evolved.
Newly detected fast radio burst (FRB) is one of the brightest ever observed. Astronomers used the CHIME telescope array to triangulate the burst’s location. FRB traced to the outskirts of a star-forming region in a nearby galaxy using powerful optical telescopes. Location is accurate within just 42 light years, the most precise localization yet for a non-repeating FRB.