Universe

Cosmic Microwave Background Stage 4, a top-priority project for U.S. astrophysics, was designed to make breakthrough observations of the universe’s very earliest moments. Now the U.S. government says it can’t currently support the project’s construction at the South Pole

For the first time, scientists observed matter’s free fall into a black hole’s “plunging region”

How do astronomers find the darkest objects in the universe?

Every now and then, tiny particles of antimatter strike Earth from cosmic parts unknown. A new balloon-borne experiment launching this spring may at last find their source

String theory could provide a theory of everything for our universe—but it entails 10⁵⁰⁰ (more than a centillion) possible solutions. AI models could help to find the right one

Domain walls, long a divisive topic in physics, may be ideal explanations for some bizarre cosmic quirks

As the Event Horizon Telescope pursues ambitious upgrades, the project’s latest results reveal the magnetic fields around our galaxy’s supermassive black hole

According to Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, the universe remembers every gravitational wave—and scientists could soon test these cosmic recollections

Polarized light from Sagittarius A*, our galaxy’s supermassive black hole, shows swirling magnetic fields that may hint at the presence of an unseen jet

A nova called T Coronae Borealis spectacularly erupts every 80 years. Your only chance to see it will come any day now

The Chandra X-ray Observatory faces a premature end under new funding cuts proposed by NASA—and astronomers aren’t happy

The scale of the cosmos exceeds the bounds of human comprehension. But that doesn’t mean the universe is beyond our understanding