stars

Astronomers at the European Southern Observatory have released the largest infrared map of the Milky Way ever. The enormous dataset contains millions of new objects, and the researchers expect to scour it for discoveries for years to come.

Strange, ultraheavy stars that are rich in barium grow massive by cannibalizing their companions, scientists discover after finally catching these stellar leeches in the act.

A new image from the James Webb Space Telescope shows Arp 107, home to two merging galaxies, with two bright cores and a "bridge" of dust and gas forming a cosmic smiley face.

Betelgeuse, one of the brightest stars in the sky, may have a secret sunlike companion that drives the star’s mysterious six-year-long "heartbeat," new research suggests.

The Andromeda Galaxy, the Milky Way's closest galactic neighbor, glows brightly in a new Hubble Space Telescope image with swathes of ionized gas that fuel star formation.

These small galaxies are either crammed with stars or they host gigantic black holes. The data astronomers have collected continues to puzzle them.

The Very Large Telescope in northern Chile imaged a "super-Jupiter" exoplanet called 2M1207b, precisely 20 years ago this week. This was the first direct visual confirmation of a world beyond our solar system.

Finding the universe's brightness is essential for confirming our theories of what makes up the universe. But to do so, scientists had to send a spacecraft far away from our sun.

The James Webb Space Telescope has uncovered six "rogue planets" careening through space without a star. The objects are believed to have formed directly from gas collapse, blurring the lines between planets and stars.

Stars that wander too close to supermassive black holes may be violently undone in a process called "spaghettification." New simulations provide the most detailed look ever at the gory interaction.