Astrophysics

Wispy whorls on the moon’s surface are as lovely as they are strange. Scientists are starting to unravel their origins

A famous prediction that microchips improve exponentially over time can be applicable in unrelated developments, such as the technology used to discover colliding black holes

Andromeda and the Milky Way may collide, or they may safely swing past each other. Time will tell

A new explanation for the Wow! signal suggests it was a chance detection of a furious flare crashing into a hydrogen cloud. But some researchers doubt that this idea has truly cracked the case

Dark matter has turned out to be more elusive than physicists had hoped

Surging solar activity means enormous sunspots are in the space-weather forecast. Here’s how to view them safely

There’s more than one way for a star to die. Some go with a whimper, and some go with a very, very big bang

Space weather is heating up in our current solar cycle peak

NASA’s NEOWISE telescope has searched for asteroids, brown dwarfs and luminous galaxies. The spacecraft will soon burn up in Earth’s atmosphere

Claims of alien starships visiting Earth always fall short, but people still fall for them

With the confirmation of gravitational waves less than a decade old, scientists are barreling ahead with new detectors to pick up ever more elusive ripples in spacetime

The James Webb Space Telescope’s search for the earliest stars and black holes has yielded a very weird, very red, puzzle