Gaia

Astronomers find the nearest black hole to Earth, and it has a Sun-like companion star

At 1,570 light-years away it's three times closer than the previous record holder.

By Phil Plait | 

6 months ago

The future history of the Sun

New data shows when the Sun will start to die.

By Phil Plait | 

7 months ago

Over time, some stars get uncomfortably close to the Sun

Several stars in the recent past have given us a cosmically close shave.

By Phil Plait | 

7 months ago

Timeline of the Milky Way

New work shows a part of our Milky Way galaxy is far older than previously thought.

By Phil Plait | 

11 months ago

Our Milky Way galaxy’s last big collision still leaves clues 10 billion years later

Undigested cosmic sausage reveals secrets of a massive galactic merger.

By Phil Plait | 

1 year ago

Just how many stars *is* Albireo, and is one of them a black hole?

By Phil Plait | 

1 year ago

A new way to find gigantic black holes paired up at the dawn of the Universe

By Phil Plait | 

1 year ago

The best horror, sci-fi, and fantasy movies and shows we saw at SXSW 2021

By Matthew Jackson | 

2 years ago

The Sun is surrounded by millions of binary stars!

By Phil Plait | 

2 years ago

Gaia's map of the sky — with two *billion* stars

By Phil Plait | 

2 years ago