The results indicate that the elements essential for life formed within extreme, highly energetic environments deep inside stars, far removed from the calm conditions required for life itself. The ...

"The sheer amount of radiated energy from these bursts is so large that you can't power them with a core collapse stellar ...

Gold, uranium, and other heavy elements on Earth did not form here. They were born in the violent deaths of massive stars and ...

What can imaging supernovae (plural for supernova) explosions teach astronomers about their behavior and physical ...

Gamma-ray bursts, as shown in this illustration, come from powerful astronomical events. NASA, ESA and M. Kornmesser When faraway stars explode, they send out flashes of energy called gamma-ray bursts ...

Stars like the Sun are remarkably constant. They vary in brightness by only 0.1% over years and decades, thanks to the fusion of hydrogen into helium that powers them. This process will keep the Sun ...

Dark matter is a ghostly substance that astronomers have failed to detect for decades, yet which we know has an enormous influence on normal matter in the universe, such as stars and galaxies. Through ...

Some stars explode into a nova quickly; others can take more than a month. Scientists are only beginning to understand why.

Dark matter is a ghostly substance that astronomers have failed to detect for decades, yet which we know has an enormous influence on normal matter in the universe, such as stars and galaxies. Through ...

You’d think that supernovae – the death throes of massive stars and among the brightest, most powerful explosions in the universe – would be hard to miss. Yet the number of these blasts observed in ...

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.) Chris Impey, University of Arizona (THE CONVERSATION) Stars like the Sun are ...