astronomy

WATCH: Here’s the first image of the black hole at the center of our galaxy

By Seth Borenstein, Associated Press

The world got a look Thursday at the first wild but fuzzy image of the supermassive black hole at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy.

How Galileo’s groundbreaking works got banned

By Dr. Howard Markel

Born on this day 458 years ago, Galileo refused to be silent about how the solar system worked.

NASA’s new space telescope sees 1st starlight, takes selfie

By Marcia Dunn, Associated Press

Officials for the James Webb Space Telescope said Friday that all 18 segments of the primary mirror seem to be working properly 1 1/2 months into the mission.

New James Webb Space Telescope reaches final stop 1 million miles away from Earth

By Marcia Dunn, Associated Press

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope fired its rocket thrusters Monday, one month after launching on a quest to behold the dawn of the universe.

What too much artificial light steals from our night skies

By Isabella Isaacs-Thomas

Advocates emphasize that, compared to many other types of pollution plaguing our planet, addressing excessive lighting is relatively straightforward.

NASA is returning to Venus to learn how it became a hot poisonous wasteland

By Paul K. Byrne, The Conversation

Two new NASA missions – VERITAS and DAVINCI+ – are headed to Venus. The missions will use radar and a probe to learn about Earth's hard-to-study and potentially prophetic neighbor.

WATCH: How to see the red blood supermoon lunar eclipse coming early Wednesday

By Shannon Schmoll, The Conversation

Also known as the super flower blood moon (so named because May's full moon is sometimes called the flower moon), the phenomenon combined several lunar milestones that resulted in a full moon that looks bigger than usual, turns red, and…

Primordial black holes could explain dark matter, galaxy growth and more

By Adam Mann, Knowable Magazine

A half-century-old, still-disputed idea about dense cosmic objects from the dawn of time could solve longstanding mysteries about the universe.

Scientists spot two black holes merged into never before seen size

By Seth Borenstein, Associated Press

Black holes are getting stranger — even to astronomers. Scientists reported Wednesday they detected the merger of two smaller black holes into the first intermediate sized black hole ever observed. …

Astronomers still don’t know exactly what the sun is made of

By Ken Croswell, Knowable Magazine

For two decades, astronomers have argued over how much carbon, nitrogen and especially oxygen lie within our closest star — a dispute with implications for the entire universe.