How Heavy Is the Milky Way?
By combining data from the Hubble and Gaia space telescopes, an international team of astronomers has come up with the…
Enormous Stream of Stars Discovered in Southern Sky
Scientists have discovered a nearby “stellar stream” containing thousands of stars spanning the southern sky. They made…
New Star Map Reveals the Milky Way Is Warped
A new analysis of pulsing stars has revealed the Milky Way’s twisted shape.
Astronomers Accidentally Discover a Hidden Galaxy Right Next Door
While inspecting a known globular cluster, a team of astronomers began to notice that some of its stars didn’t seem to…
Astronomers Have Stumbled Upon One of the Most Ancient Stars in the Universe
A tiny star located about 1,590 light-years from Earth could be as old as 13.53 billion years, making it one of the…
What Are These Mystery Puffs Near the Galactic Center?
The center of our galaxy is an extreme place that holds all sorts of mysteries. Among those enigmas are what appear to…
The Andromeda Galaxy Is Not Nearly as Big as We Thought
The closest galaxy to our own is the majestic Andromeda galaxy, a collection of a trillion stars located a “mere” 2…
Scientists Measure Furthest Part of Milky Way Yet
This might come as a surprise, but we don’t really know what our own galaxy looks like. We can only see it from our…
A Vast and Spooky Void Is Influencing the Milky Way
“The void” is more than a metaphor for gnawing existential pain. In fact, new research from an international team of…
This Is the Most Detailed Hydrogen Map of the Milky Way Ever Created
Using two of the world’s largest configurable telescopes, scientists have created the most detailed map yet of hydrogen…
Photos of These Bolivian Salt Flats Perfectly Reflect the Night Sky
Since finding a perfectly dark sky is rare in our electrically-powered world, we at Gizmodo like to highlight the areas…
Astronomers Have Discovered the Most Desolate Place in the Milky Way
An international team of astronomers has discovered a huge expanse of space near the center of the Milky Way that’s…
The Majority of Americans Can't See the Milky Way Anymore
Our world is getting brighter, as we turn more and more lights on across the planet. But all that light shining from…
A Giant Galaxy Orbiting Our Own Just Appeared Out of Nowhere
Researchers scanning the skies just got a big surprise. They spotted a humongous galaxy orbiting our own, where none…
These Newly Discovered 'Super Galaxies' Are the Biggest and Brightest Ever Seen
Looking at these spiral galaxies glowing brightly against the dark, it’s hard to imagine that they could be so easily…
New Milky Way Map Reveals a View of Our Galaxy Four Times Bigger Than We've Ever Seen
Seven years after their last effort at mapping our Galaxy, the APEX telescope has given us something even more…
Researchers Just Discovered Hundreds of Galaxies Hidden Behind the Milky Way
Astronomers just uncovered hundreds of hidden galaxies a mere 250 million light years away from Earth—well within our…
This Cosmic Fart Cloud Is On a Collision Course With Our Galaxy
The cosmos is littered with clouds of star-forming gas, but few are as well studied as the Smith Cloud, set to crash…
Astronomers Have Discovered a Previously Unknown Feature of the Milky Way
Using the VISTA telescope, astronomers in Chile have discovered a previously undetected band of young stars hidden away…
This Is the Most Complete Picture of the Milky Way Ever Taken
How big is this photo? So big that just by taking it, astronomers found over 50,000 new stars and other bright space…