Astronomy

Planets might exist in the least likely place you’d imagine—around the outskirts of supermassive black holes

AI analysis of mammograms could provide a “bonus finding” for heart disease

A physician involved in the long push to change the name PCOS to PMOS takes us behind the scenes of this subtle yet consequential change

Bright Venus and Jupiter pass through conjunction in twilight this week, while Mercury, Pollux, and Castor watch them from nearby.

The post This Week's Sky at a Glance, June 5 – 14 appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

A seemingly simple set of rules kicks off a kind of mathematical magic trick, which has kept great minds busy since the 1930s. Columnist Jacob Aron explores the origins of the Collatz conjecture, why it is so addictive to mathematicians and whether AI could help us solve it once and for all

A seemingly simple set of rules kicks off a kind of mathematical magic trick, which has kept great minds busy since the 1930s. Columnist Jacob Aron explores the origins of the Collatz conjecture, why it is so addictive to mathematicians and whether AI could help us solve it once and for all

Image: Webb unveils young stars across every stage of formation

Image: On World Environment Day, the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission brings us an amazing view from space of Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, hosting this year’s celebration.

The Office of Management and Budget envisions diminishing peer review and international collaborations.

The post Proposed U.S. Grant Funding Rules Spark Worry, Backlash in Astronomy appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

What is so micro about tonight's blue micromoon?

A gorgeous spiral galaxy,

A geomagnetic storm expected June 4th arrived late. But there's still at chance of seeing auroras Friday night, June 5th.

The post Chance of Aurora Extends to Friday Night, June 5th appeared first on Sky & Telescope.

Astronomers have developed a technique that allows them to detect cloud cycles on distant exoplanets. Using data from the James Webb Sapce Telescope (JWST), the astronomers found that mornings and evenings on the gas giant WASP-94A b have extremely different weather patterns: mornings are riddled with sand clouds, while the skies are clear in the early evenings. By isolating the clouds, researchers can more accurately measure a planet’s atmosphere and provide a clearer picture of the planet’s composition. WASP-94A b, for example, has much less oxygen and carbon than astronomers perviously calculated, making its atmosphere much more like Jupiter than they had originally thought.

Coal is the most significant fossil fuel contributor to climate change

New research shows how unmagnetized worlds like Mars can still deflect some of the Sun's solar wind. Unlike magnetospheres that form around planet's like Earth, this effect takes place in Mars' ionosphere. It's called the Zwan-Wolf effect, and it's not clear how deep into the atmosphere it operates.

Remote and hybrid work can have benefits, but a study involving more than 588,000 people suggest they may take a serious mental toll

Bumblebees appear to be capable of coming up with creative solutions to new problems to get a sugary reward—and their strategies include cheating

A new investigation alleges that official organizations in Tanzania have imperiled the country's artifacts and remains at four critical human heritage sites they were supposed to protect

Scientists using the Euclid space telescope found a red-dwarf brightness “gap” in the population of a globular cluster—an ancient, crowded collection of stars. A similar gap was detected by the Gaia observatory in nearby stellar populations, but it has never before been seen in a globular cluster.