By combining observations from powerful telescopes in opposite hemispheres with state-of-the-art spectrographs, a Georgia State University astronomy graduate student has produced a landmark survey of nearby stars, identifying promising targets in the search for planets that could support life. The new research was featured at a press conference during the American Astronomical Society’s annual meeting.

Scientists at the University of Missouri have identified a small group of unusual objects in the early universe. Using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Haojing Yan and his team at Mizzou’s College of Arts and Science spotted these strange objects, which seem like one galactic thing but have the unmistakable fingerprints of something else entirely.

Advanced quantum detectors designed at Texas A&M University are reinventing the search for dark matter, an unseen force that science has yet to explain.

Our galaxy’s supermassive black hole is famous for being one of the dimmest in the universe. Evidence from a new space telescope shows that might not always have been the case. Sagittarius A*, located at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, appears to have flared dramatically sometime within the past few hundred to 1,000 years, according to X-ray emissions observed by the XRISM space telescope. These surprising findings unveil new details of how supermassive black holes evolve. They also teach astronomers lessons about the history of our cosmic home.