When Exoplanets Collide
A dramatic glimpse of the aftermath of a collision between two exoplanets is giving scientists a view at what can happen when planets crash into each other. A similar event…
25 Years of Science in the Solar Wind
In the early 1980s, heliophysicists needed answers. They wanted to learn how to protect astronauts and assets around Earth from the potentially damaging space weather that results from our tumultuous…
Stars Pollute, but Galaxies Recycle
Galaxies were once thought of as lonely islands in the universe: clumps of matter floating through otherwise empty space. We now know they are surrounded by a much larger, yet…
Hubble Finds Medusa in the Sky
The galaxy pictured in this Hubble image has an especially evocative name: the Medusa merger. Often referred to by its somewhat drier New General Catalogue designation of NGC 4194, this…
Chandra Spots a Mega-Cluster of Galaxies in the Making
Astronomers using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and other telescopes have put together a detailed map of a rare collision between four galaxy clusters. Eventually all four clusters –…