Nearly 4.5 million years ago, two enormous, blazing stars swung close to the solar system. They did not touch the sun, but they came close enough to leave a permanent mark on the thin mist of gas that ...

What can imaging supernovae (plural for supernova) explosions teach astronomers about their behavior and physical characteristics? This is what a recent study published in Nature Astronomy hopes to ...

Researchers identified a "forbidden range" of black-hole masses more than 45 times the Sun's mass, where stellar-origin black holes are rare. The gap aligns with models in which such stars explode via ...

Astronomers have created a detailed forecast of where they expect to observe future stellar explosions in a nearby galaxy, opening a new window into how exploding stars shape the cosmos. Focusing on ...

The brightest cosmic object of its kind ever detected may have helped astronomers solve the mystery of powerful, bright blue cosmic explosions. At the heart of the discovery is a signal from a ...

Artist’s conception of a magnetar surrounded by an accretion disk that is wobbling, or precessing, because of the effects of general relativity. Some models of magnetars suggest that high-speed jets ...

Astrophysicists have achieved an eye-opening leap in understanding stellar death, capturing unprecedented, detailed images of two exploding stars that demonstrate these blasts are far more complicated ...

New research suggests that the most massive stars in the universe may end their lives in powerful explosions, leaving no ...

Stephen Reynolds talks about his research in this video by Brantley Atkinson. An advanced satellite telescope launched by NASA is giving N.C. State astrophysicist Stephen Reynolds and other ...