Gamma-ray bursts, as shown in this illustration, come from powerful astronomical events. NASA, ESA and M. Kornmesser When faraway stars explode, they send out flashes of energy called gamma-ray bursts ...

Stars like the Sun are remarkably constant. They vary in brightness by only 0.1% over years and decades, thanks to the fusion of hydrogen into helium that powers them. This process will keep the Sun ...

Nearly 4.5 million years ago, two enormous, blazing stars swung close to the solar system. They did not touch the sun, but they came close enough to leave a permanent mark on the thin mist of gas that ...

"The sheer amount of radiated energy from these bursts is so large that you can't power them with a core collapse stellar ...

Dark matter is a ghostly substance that astronomers have failed to detect for decades, yet which we know has an enormous influence on normal matter in the universe, such as stars and galaxies. Through ...

Brad E Tucker receives funding from the Australian Research Council and ACT Government. What is the universe made of? This question has driven astronomers for hundreds of years. For the past quarter ...

You’d think that supernovae – the death throes of massive stars and among the brightest, most powerful explosions in the universe – would be hard to miss. Yet the number of these blasts observed in ...

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) Amy Lien, University of Tampa (THE CONVERSATION) When faraway stars explode, they send ...

Andreea Font does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their ...

Research by a Danish physicist suggests that the explosion of massive stars – supernovae – near the Solar System has strongly influenced the development of life. Prof. Henrik Svensmark of the ...

Stars like the sun are remarkably constant. They vary in brightness by only 0.1 percent over years and decades, thanks to the fusion of hydrogen into helium that powers them. This process will keep ...

Earth has faced multiple mass extinctions in its long history, with the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs being the most famous. But what if some of these catastrophic events were caused by ...