Finding Structure Among Black Holes
New research has explored the populations of black holes involved in catastrophic, gravitational-wave-emitting collisions — and an interesting pattern has emerged.
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A Pileup of Perpendicular Planets
A new study explores what we can learn from planets that are misaligned with their stars.
FAST Discovery of New Distant Pulsars
The largest filled-aperture radio telescope in the world has discovered a new assortment of distant, pulsating neutron stars.
Science with a Single Merger Event
Future gravitational-wave observatories could enable us to use a single binary neutron star merger to measure the universe’s rate of expansion.
Connecting the Pieces of a Black Hole Temper Tantrum
Recent observations shed light on a dramatic outburst from a black hole X-ray binary.
Observing “The Accident”, an Enigmatic Brown Dwarf
It’s human nature to try to categorize the things we observe in the universe. But what happens when something doesn’t fit into the neat categories we’ve established?
LIGO/Virgo Spots Neutron Stars Colliding with Black Holes
The family picture is complete — we’ve finally made the first definitive detection of a black hole merging with a neutron star.
Searching for Spots with Interferometry
We’ve tracked starspots on the Sun for thousands of years, but we’ve only just begun to do the same for other stars. A recent study presents the first direct images of starspots on λ Andromedae.
The Future of the Search for a Gravitational-Wave Background
Scientists have long looked for a faint, background gravitational-wave signal that should pervade our universe. Here’s what’s ahead in the search.
Probing Dust Close to Supermassive Black Holes
New infrared observations show us the innermost region at the heart of a distant, active galaxy.