Robert Lea

Scientists may have "heard" the first tantalizing evidence of primordial black holes formed directly from overly dense pockets of matter just after the Big Bang.

"In order to get such high sensitivity in the mid-infrared, one needs to go to space, as the atmosphere severely messes up ground-based observations at this wavelength."

The NASA gamma-ray spacecraft Fermi may have enabled scientists to "see" dark matter, the universe's most mysterious stuff, for the first time.

"If you were able to stand somewhat close to the white dwarf's pole, you would see a column of gas stretching 2,000 miles into the sky, and then fanning outward."

"This challenges our understanding of black hole and galaxy formation in the early universe."

"The most convincing scenario is that most of the building blocks of Earth and Theia originated in the inner solar system. Earth and Theia are likely to have been neighbors."

"The discovery of this stream highlights how much is still unknown about the life histories of galaxies, how the hidden universe shapes the realms that we can see."

The data is starting to reveal how galaxies and their black holes evolve.

"We really needed the sensitivity of JWST. We also needed the 100 times magnification from gravitational lensing from a galaxy cluster between us and LAP1-B."

"Throwing a close companion into the mix could possibly wreak further havoc on the already complicated processes surrounding these stars."

Albert Einstein's theory of gravity, general relativity, may not be the best recipe to describe black holes.

"Even though it's the first time we've seen a galaxy like this, we think that there could be many more out there."

This is great news for planetary defense.

The solar system is moving through space over three times as fast as estimated, calling into question our best model of the universe and its evolution.

Scientists may have solved the mystery of an "impossible" merger between two black holes so massive and fast-spinning that they shouldn't even exist, according to current theory.

"Astronomers have wanted to spot a coronal mass ejection on another star for decades. We’ve now managed to do this for the first time."

"This study changes how we see the Pleiades — not just seven bright stars, but thousands of long-lost siblings scattered across the whole sky."

"We expected to see this effect, but we were still surprised by just how efficient these stars seem to be at engulfing their close planets."

NASA's Juno spacecraft has revealed that the solar system's most volcanic body is even hotter than scientists thought.

"If these results are confirmed, it would mark a major paradigm shift in cosmology since the discovery of dark energy 27 years ago."

"By reproducing relativistic plasma conditions in the lab, we can measure processes that shape the evolution of cosmic jets and better understand the origin of magnetic fields in intergalactic space."

"The James Webb Space Telescope has opened a new frontier in extragalactic astrophysics, revealing objects we didn't even suspect existed, and we're only at the beginning of this adventure."

"If such a fifth force exists, it cannot exceed 7% of the strength of gravity."

Astronomers have detected the most distant and biggest black hole flare ever seen, the result of a black hole ripping apart and devouring a star 30 times as massive as the sun.

"The reason for 3I’s rapid brightening, which far exceeds the brightening rate of most Oort cloud comets at similar distances, remains unclear."