An unusual supernova rediscovered in seven-year-old data may be the first example of a new type of exploding star, possibly from a binary star system where helium flows from one white... — full story
XMM-Newton uncovers a celestial Rosetta stoneESA's XMM-Newton orbiting X-ray telescope has uncovered a celestial Rosetta stone: the first close-up of a white dwarf star, circling a companion star, that could explode into a particular... — full story
World's observatories watching 'cool' starThe Whole Earth Telescope (WET), a worldwide network of observatories coordinated by the University of Delaware, is synchronising its lenses to provide round-the-clock coverage of a... — full story
Time for a new theory of gravitation? Satellite galaxies challenge Newtonian modelThe high speed of stars and apparent presence of 'dark matter' in the satellite galaxies that orbit our Milky Way Galaxy presents a direct challenge to Newton's theory of gravitation,... — full story
A peanut-shaped stellar explosionUsing the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (HST), an international team of astronomers have taken the first optical images of a dramatic stellar outburst and discovered a peanut-shaped... — full story
A team of astronomers, led by Dr Bo Wang from the Yunnan Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, have developed a new model which explains the formation of the most youthful... — full story
New recipe for dwarf galaxies: Start with leftover gasThere is more than one way to make a dwarf galaxy, and NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer has found a new recipe. The spacecraft has, for the first time, identified dwarf galaxies forming... — full story
Spiral galaxies as our own are made up from several structural components. Their most outstanding part is a flat disc where stars and gas trace graceful spiral arms. In the centre of... — full story
A mysterious flash of light from somewhere near or far in the Universe is still keeping astronomers in the dark long after it was first detected by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope in... — full story
Dead stars tell story of planet birthAstronomers have turned to an unexpected place to study the evolution of planets - dead stars. Observations made with NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveal six dead 'white dwarf' stars... — full story