Posts by 

Shireen Gonzaga

Alpha Cephei, or Alderamin, is a fast-spinning star

Meet Alpha Cephei, in the constellation Cepheus the King. It’s spinning so fast that it appears like a slightly flattened beach ball.

Delta Cephei helps measure cosmic distances

Delta Cephei is an inconspicuous variable star in the northern constellation Cepheus the King. This important star helped establish the cosmic distance scale.

Exquisite Albireo, a beloved and colorful double star

Albireo, in the constellation Cygnus, is a favorite for stargazers. Through a small telescope, it appears as a beautiful gold star with a dimmer blue companion.
Space

Built not born: Huge black holes form in mergers, study says

A new study suggests the largest stellar-mass black holes form not from single stars collapsing, but from collisions and mergers between smaller black holes.
Earth

Why are scorpion stings so painful? Metal stingers!

Metal-tipped stingers and pincers could explain why scorpion stings and pinches are so painful. A new study has explored this amazing feature in more detail.
Space

Interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS born in a cold environment

The chemistry of water in interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS indicates that its home star formed in colder conditions compared to that of our sun.
Space

Black hole Cygnus X-1 has fast, powerful dancing jets

The Cygnus X-1 black hole emits jets that are bent by stellar winds from a companion star. This has enabled astronomers to calculate the power of those jets.
Brightest Stars

Alpha Centauri, the star system closest to our sun

Our closest stellar neighbors are the 3 stars that make up the Alpha Centauri system. They lie just over 4 light-years away from us.
Earth

Ancestors of mammals laid eggs, says new fossil evidence

Scientists discovered a 250-million-year-old Lystrosaurus fossil that was still in its egg. It showed ancestors of mammals laid eggs.
Human World

Native Americans played dice more than 12,000 years ago

Native Americans played dice games more than 12,000 years ago. That's 6,500 years earlier than Bronze age people in the Old World did.