Stars | Astronomy.com

The universe’s guide to creating elements

Alison Klesman — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 13:00:00 +0000

Many space-lovers know the phrase “We are all made of star stuff.” And it’s true — our planet formed from the dust cloud left over from the formation of our Sun, and from the planet, all life. That cloud, in turn, was born from the remnants of past generations of stars. But the elements thatContinue reading "The universe’s guide to creating elements"

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JWST views a frozen starscape in the Chamaeleon I molecular cloud complex

Richard Talcott — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 13:32:00 +0000

The Sun generates energy through nuclear fusion, converting some 600 million tons of hydrogen into helium every second. This process began nearly 5 billion years ago, and it will continue for at least another 5 billion years. But the Sun did not pop into existence fully formed. It started its long journey to stardom inContinue reading "JWST views a frozen starscape in the Chamaeleon I molecular cloud complex"

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JWST peers into the Crystal Ball Nebula to unveil a stellar finale

Richard Talcott — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 19:00:00 +0000

A star like the Sun lives modestly for billions of years, converting the nuclear fuel in its core into energy that ultimately escapes as light and heat. But the most spectacular phase of a Sun-like star’s existence lasts only tens of thousands of years and coincides with its death. The star puffs off its outer layersContinue reading "JWST peers into the Crystal Ball Nebula to unveil a stellar finale"

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The first supernova of its kind

Michael E. Bakich — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 15:05:18 +0000

An international team of scientists, led by Northwestern University astrophysicists, has detected a never-before-seen type of exploding star, or supernova, that is rich with silicon, sulfur, and argon. Astronomers long have theorized that massive stars (10 to 100 times heavier than our Sun) have a layered structure. The outermost layers are made of the lightestContinue reading "The first supernova of its kind"

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How AI helped uncover a new type of supernova

Brooks Mendenhall — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 17:21:44 +0000

Using an AI algorithm, astronomers have discovered a new type of supernova likely resulting from the merger of a dying star and its black hole companion. In July 2023, the Zwicky Transient Facility discovered supernova SN 2023zkd, located 730 million light-years from Earth. Six months later, in January 2024, an artificial intelligence algorithm known asContinue reading "How AI helped uncover a new type of supernova"

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Why are there so many different types of stars?

Astronomy Staff — Mon, 04 Aug 2025 15:00:00 +0000

What are the factors that result in so many different sizes and classes of stars? Kenton BowersPahrump, Nevada To understand how we classify and differentiate the stars we see in the sky, we first need to understand how they are born and change throughout their lives. Star formation begins with a massive cloud of coldContinue reading "Why are there so many different types of stars?"

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Betelgeuse’s long-lost companion emerges from the shadows

Brooks Mendenhall — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 18:42:46 +0000

On July 21, 2025, NSF NOIRLab issued a press release stating that astronomers had detected a long-anticipated companion star to the red supergiant Betelgeuse. The team of astrophysicists, led by Steve Howell, senior research scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center, observed Betelgeuse’s companion using ‘Alopeke, a speckle imager mounted on the Gemini North Telescope locatedContinue reading "Betelgeuse’s long-lost companion emerges from the shadows"

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HST captures the Veil Nebula in prismatic color

Richard Talcott — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 14:00:00 +0000

About 10,000 years ago, a new star appeared in what we now recognize as Cygnus the Swan. It was the light from a supernova explosion that occurred about 2,400 years earlier, when a star with roughly 20 times the Sun’s mass had exhausted its nuclear fuel. This caused the core to collapse, triggering a shockContinue reading "HST captures the Veil Nebula in prismatic color"

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Astronomers discover a perfectly spherical supernova remnant

Mark Zastrow — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 22:20:27 +0000

In a universe governed by turbulence and chaos, perfection is rarely more than a mathematical ideal. Yet astronomers are puzzling over a newfound object that seems to defy that rule: a glowing, nearly flawless circular shell of gas and dust, likely the remnant of a long-dead star, that has remarkably preserved its shape in aContinue reading "Astronomers discover a perfectly spherical supernova remnant"

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Why will our Sun expel its outer layers as it dies?

Astronomy Staff — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 13:00:00 +0000

Why will our Sun expel its outer layers as it dies? Daniel StanyerAugusta, Kansas First, let’s discriminate between expansion and expulsion. Expansion happens because the thermal pressure from the increased energy production in the Sun’s interior exceeds the gravitational force keeping the Sun’s matter close to its core. The Sun will expand until a newContinue reading "Why will our Sun expel its outer layers as it dies? "

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