Astrophysics

New analysis of gravitational wave data indicates that the universe's heaviest black holes arise from multiple collisions inside dense star clusters instead of single stellar collapses.

May 02, 2026 Reported by AI

Astronomers have identified the source of unusual X-rays from the bright star gamma-Cas as a hidden white dwarf companion siphoning material from it. High-resolution data from the XRISM space mission confirmed that the emissions arise from matter heating up as it falls onto the unseen star. The discovery ends a puzzle that has intrigued scientists since the 1970s.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has observed an unusually thick haze on the exoplanet Kepler-51d, obscuring its atmospheric composition. This super-puff planet, part of a rare low-density system around the star Kepler-51, challenges standard models of planetary formation. The findings, led by Penn State researchers, were published on March 16 in the Astronomical Journal.

March 15, 2026 Reported by AI

An international team has identified the brightest fast radio burst ever detected by CHIME, tracing it to the galaxy NGC 4141. Named FRB 20250316A or RBFLOAT, the burst occurred on March 16, 2025, and lasted about one-fifth of a second. Follow-up observations with the James Webb Space Telescope revealed a faint infrared signal at the location.