Astrophysics

The ocean’s twice-daily rise and fall is only the most obvious effect of tides—they slow Earth’s spin and shape stars and galaxies, too

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

Giant bubbles erupting across this red supergiant star’s surface could solve a lingering astrophysical mystery

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

In an era of budget-busting mega-telescopes, we shouldn’t forget the importance of smaller telescopes, more focused missions and the unexpected surprises they reveal about the universe

Scientists have proposed a new way to learn whether hypothetical particles called axions really exist—and whether axions make up most of the universe’s dark matter

Researchers have created ultraheavy versions of elements that have never existed before on Earth

Rather than ripping up our fundamental models of the universe, the unexpectedly big and bright galaxies spied in the early universe by JWST probably have astrophysical explanations

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna could discover gigantic ripples in spacetime from merging supermassive black holes and more

Thousand of exoplanets have been discovered over the past decades, and understanding how they wobble on their axes could tell us what their seasons might look like and how habitable they may be

The last time North Americans caught a total solar eclipse, the sun was in a lull of activity. This year’s eclipse will be very different

A serendipitously discovered object nearly as massive as the Milky Way appears to be made of primordial gas that has formed almost no stars