Extremestars

20 amazing answers t o curious

Isn’t it amazing that astronomy – humanity’s oldest science – continues to generate such a delightful amount of new knowledge? Seeing as we’ve been studying the motion of the stars for a good long whi

To make a planet, first you’ll need a massive, reasonably dense cloud of cold gas and dust. Luckily, later generations of the cosmos have provided just that. These clouds, rich in hydrogen, helium and

SNR 0509-67.5. Calcium is shown in blue and ...

Flicking through the pages of BBC Sky at Night Magazine each month, you’d be forgiven for thinking astronomers have black holes pinned down. Whether it’s the dramatic imaging of black hole shadows by

A citizen astronomy project known as Kilonova Seekers has discovered an exploding star system in real time. Described as like a game of astronomical ‘spot the difference’, the project invites members