Astronomy

Almost everything we know about the cosmos is conveyed by photons traveling across vast distances

The human brain loves seeing patterns, even when they aren’t really there

An image of interstellar dust moving through the Milky Way’s magnetic field may help scientists learn more about the origin of galaxies

Cosmic happenstance and biological evolution come together to create a road map to the stars

The latest images from Euclid, a European mission studying dark matter and dark energy, are spectacularly beautiful—and scientifically promising

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope observed an unusually large and highly luminous galaxy at a record-breaking 290 million years after the big bang

We should—and must—take careful measure of what we name cosmic objects and the terms we use throughout science

The next time you snap a selfie, consider thanking an astronomer for your phone’s camera

Failing hardware on NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope may lead to less science, officials say, but the space agency isn’t ready to pursue a private repair mission

The iconic star Polaris appears to be much younger than its true age. The secret: it’s eating another star

Instruments may fail, but humanity’s most distant sentinel will keep exploring, and inspiring us all

A supernova showering Earth with radioactive debris is a surprisingly common cosmic occurrence