Astronomers find odd gas giant exoplanet traveling far from its star

The planet is about 2,000 times the Earth-sun distance from its star, a record among exoplanets. That means it takes about 80,000 Earth years for the planet to orbit its star.

Magnetars are the most powerful magnets in the universe

Magnetars are the bizarre super-dense remnants of supernova explosions and the strongest magnets known in the universe.

Watch two neutron stars rip each other apart to form a black hole

This supercomputer simulation from NASA shows one of the most violent events in the universe: Two neutron stars ripping each other apart to form black hole.

Most detailed view yet of Milky Way’s magnetic fields

Researchers have created a new map of the Milky Way's magnetic fingerprint, the magnetic fields that shape our galaxy.

The best-observed X-flare in history

NASA says the March 29, 2014 X-flare was the best-observed in history. This post contains beautiful images of that intense event on the surface of the sun.

Mid-level solar flare erupts from sun on May 8

The May 8 solar flare is classified as an M5.2-class flare. M-flares are about one-tenth as strong as the most intense flares, called X-flares.

This is cool! Watch a realistic virtual universe unfold

If astronomers had used an average desktop computer to run the new Illustris simulation, the calculations would have taken more than 2,000 years to complete.

Our sun now has a brother star, the first one ever found

These astronomers say there's a “small, but not zero” chance that brother stars to our sun could host planets that harbor life.

Star clusters form from outside in, not inside out, study says

Astronomers studied two clusters where sun-like stars are still forming. Both clusters had older stars on their outskirts than toward their centers.

Nearest hypervelocity star found speeding through space at 1 million mph

Astronomers think hypervelocity stars happen when the galaxy's central back hole captures one of two stars in a binary system and slingshots the other out of the galaxy.