Illustration of surface of planet orbiting Barnard's star

Exoplanets

A Chilly Super-Earth May Orbit Barnard's Star

One of the closest stars to the Sun hosts a planet at least three times as massive as our own where temperatures might be just low enough to freeze liquid water.

Illustration of stars sprinting through our Galaxy

Milky Way

Some Stars Around Galaxy May Be From Elsewhere

Data from the Gaia satellite reveal 20 new high-speed stars, 13 of which appear to have originated outside of the Milky Way.

The cluster environment strips gas from galaxies

Galaxies

Putting the Brakes on the Stellar Baby Boom

Two studies of distant galaxy clusters point to different mechanisms of stopping the baby boom that reigned in the early universe.

Speeding stars

Milky Way

Artificial Neural Network Finds Speeding Stars

Astronomers found six runaway stars when they applied a neural network to data from the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission, which is set to map a billion stars across the Milky Way and beyond.

Stellar Science

Brown Dwarfs vs. Stars: What Makes a Star a Star?

At what point does a clump of gas ignite, turning into a star? Astronomers now have an answer to what makes a star — and what makes a brown dwarf.

Magellanic Clouds

Galaxies

Astronomers Discover Magnetic Bridge Between Magellanic Clouds

A magnetic field appears to span the space between the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, the two dwarf galaxies being consumed by our Milky Way Galaxy.

Exoplanets

Gravitational Lensing Reveals "Iceball Earth" 13,000 Light-Years Away

Astronomers have discovered an "iceball Earth" orbiting a star 13,000 light-years away. Multiple eyes on the sky have revealed some of this world's secrets.

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