Your essential guide to the many breathtaking wonders of the universe
22 April 2023
An abridged inventory of everything there is in the universe – from rogue planets and exomoons to supernovae, supermassive black holes and the cosmic web.
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‘Forbidden’ planet somehow escaped consumption by its dying host star
26 January 2023
The planet 8 Ursae Minoris b should have been destroyed when its star became a red giant, but it continues to orbit strangely close to it
A planet-spotting extravaganza is coming, if you are an early riser
23 March 2022
Stargazing usually favours night owls, but here's a treat for early birds, says Abigail Beall, who offers a host of planets peeping over the horizon
Vast worlds called brown dwarfs have extraordinarily powerful winds
9 April 2020
Brown dwarfs, which are halfway between huge planets and small stars, have extremely powerful winds whipping around them at speeds of about 650 metres per second
The inside story on 'Oumuamua and other interstellar worlds
2 December 2019
In 2017, a mysterious asteroid from a different solar system passed near Earth. Astrophysicist Michele Bannister has the inside story on ’Oumuamua
How to watch Mercury's transit of the sun with just binoculars
6 November 2019
On 11 November, the innermost planet of the solar system will make a rare crossing of the face of the sun. Here's how to see it without expensive kit
Spot six planets in the sky this week: Mercury, Mars, Uranus and more
23 October 2019
Late October is a great time to spot planets, says Abigail Beall, and with a few tips you can find almost all those in the solar system
Stars that eat planets can start spinning so fast they rip apart
20 September 2019
When a star engulfs a planet it can end up spinning so fast that it rips apart. The resulting debris could help us learn about exoplanets that were consumed
Earth may be made up of rocks blasted by gusts of solar wind
6 December 2018
The area in our solar system within Mercury’s orbit is empty, which may be because solar winds threw all the rocks farther out, where they helped form planets
We don’t need stars to navigate space - black holes work way better
5 December 2018
If you want to find your way across the universe, forget using stars or GPS. The light from quasars billions of light years away can guide us and even help here on Earth
