How we could warm Mars
A new idea among a rich history of proposals to make the surface of the cold planet habitable
Ever since learning the surface of the planet Mars is cold and dead, scientists have wondered if there was a way to
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Space
Space-based gravitational-wave detector is adopted by European Space Agency
Northwestern astrophysicist is member of international team working on new detector
Gravitational waves — ripples in the fabric of space-time first predicted by Albert Einstein in 1916 — have been directly detected here on Earth since September 2015. Now an …
Dark matter: Astronomers anticipate upcoming images of the Andromeda galaxy may hold vital clues
Although dark matter makes up 27% of the universe, astronomers have been unable to observe it directly.
Now, in a new study, an international team of researchers including Northwestern University astrophysicists has found that upcoming images from NASA’s Nancy Grace …
‘Teenage galaxies’ are unusually hot, glowing with unexpected elements
JWST unexpectedly reveals nickel and oxygen, which are typically difficult to observe
Similar to human teenagers, teenage galaxies are awkward, experience growth spurts and enjoy heavy metal — nickel, that is.
A Northwestern University-led team of astrophysicists has just analyzed …
First supernova detected, confirmed, classified and shared by AI
New artificial intelligence tool removes humans from entire search, discovery process
A fully automated process, including a brand-new artificial intelligence (AI) tool, has successfully detected, identified and classified its first supernova.
Developed by an international collaboration led by Northwestern University, …
Bursts of star formation explain mysterious brightness at cosmic dawn
Intense flashes of light, not mass, resolve the puzzle of impossible brightness
When scientists viewed the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) first images of the universe’s earliest galaxies, they were shocked. The young galaxies appeared too bright, too massive and …
Black holes eat faster than previously expected
New finding might explain why quasars flare and fade so quickly
A new Northwestern University-led study is changing the way astrophysicists understand the eating habits of supermassive black holes.
While previous researchers have hypothesized that black holes eat slowly, new …
Unprecedented gamma-ray burst explained by long-lived jet
First large-scale numerical simulation of black hole-neutron star merger matches puzzling observations
Last year, Northwestern University researchers reported new observational evidence that long gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) can result from the merger of a neutron star with another compact object (either
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Watch an exoplanet’s 17-year journey around its star
Longest time-lapse footage of an exoplanet to date was assembled from real data
A Northwestern University astrophysicist has created the longest time-lapse video of an exoplanet to date.
Constructed from real data, the footage shows Beta Pictoris b — a …
Unveiling the origins of merging black holes in galaxies like our own
Northwestern University astrophysicists are part of an international team of scientists using advanced simulation tools that has predicted the existence of merging massive, 30 solar mass black hole binaries in Milky Way-like galaxies, challenging previous theories.
The team, which includes …