stars | Bad Astronomy Newsletter

exoplanetsexoplanets

+2+2

Looking for air around TRAPPIST-1’s planets

Two more planets observed have ambiguous results, showing how difficult this is to determine

Philip Plait

exoplanetsexoplanets

+4+4

Astronomers found a dead star that might be munching on a Pluto-like planet

Yeah, some stories are just cooler than others

Philip Plait

dustdust

+5+5

A grammar note, and the magnificent chaos of Chamaeleon I

A giant cloud of gas and dust lit by stars within will soothe your trouble soul

Philip Plait

dustdust

+6+6

Little Red Dots at the edge of the universe may be black holes powering gigantic balls of gas

These “Black Hole Stars” are theoretical, but do explain what we see

Philip Plait

Hubble Space TelescopeHubble Space Telescope

+5+5

Is the most distant star ever seen really a star at all?

Also, a new moon for Quaoar! Maybe!

Philip Plait

exoplanetsexoplanets

+6+6

A new moon for Uranus, and a new planetary system in the Trifid?

Two VERY cool pix for you today

Philip Plait

PoliticsPolitics

+4+4

Did a smaller but still giant black hole recently merge with the one at the center of our galaxy?

Also: RFK Jr. needs to be impeached

Philip Plait

astrophotographyastrophotography

+2+2

A narrow view of the Rosette Nebula

A spectacular new shot of the gas cloud reveals why astronomers use filters

Philip Plait

exoplanetsexoplanets

+1+1

A newly forming planet minds the gap

A planet is seen for the first time in a gap between rings of material around a young star

Philip Plait

asteroidsasteroids

+2+2

A brown dwarf reveals its mass

Plus: Are Fast Radio Bursts caused by asteroids slamming into neutron stars?

Philip Plait

supernovaesupernovae

+3+3

A star may have exploded when it ate a black hole

Everything about this story is awesome and terrifying

Philip Plait

exoplanetsexoplanets

+3+3

A planet for Alpha Centauri A?

JWST spots what might be a Jupiter-sized world around the nearest Sun-like star

Philip Plait