Explore:
Exoplanets
Worlds beyond our solar system.
Stars
Giant balls of hot gas that burn for millions to billions of years.
Black Holes
Concentrations of matter with gravity so powerful not even light can escape.
Galaxies
Collections of stars, planets, and vast clouds of gas and dust bound together by gravity.
Cosmic Codependency: When Stellar Love Gets Toxic
Not all cosmic couples are meant to last. A white dwarf 200 light-years away is locked in the ultimate toxic relationship and is slowly draining gas from its companion in a gravitationally bound dance. For the first time, scientists have used NASA’s IXPE to study the intermediate polar EX Hydrae, revealing a 2000-mile-high column of superheated material. Understanding these destructive binaries helps us predict stellar explosions and trace the fate of stars like our Sun.
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Magnetic Tango: Neutron Stars Final Dance Before Merger
In the moments before two neutron stars collide, their magnetic fields become entangled in a cosmic tango they can’t escape. New supercomputer simulations reveal how these city-sized stars spiral closer together while their magnetospheres twist, break, and reconnect in a spectacular light show.
Understanding this fatal attraction helps us trace the origins of heavy elements, including the gold in wedding rings, and could help future telescopes catch these cosmic collisions in the act.
NASA’s Hubble Finds a Galaxy that Chose to Stay Single
Astronomers have discovered “Cloud-9”, a starless cloud of gas and dark matter that’s been happily solo for billions of years. Although this cloud has all the ingredients for star formation, Hubble has confirmed that there are no stars inside.
Understanding these rare solo acts reveals the conditions for galaxy formation and shows that staying simple and starless is a viable choice. Not every cosmic cloud follows the same path.
