Science

Black holes, dark matter, gravitational waves and exoplanets: find out how astronomy is unlocking the secrets of the Universe.

How does particle physics intertwine with astrophysics and astronomy? Credit: Xuanyu Han/istock/getty images, SCIEPRO/istock/getty images, KTSDesign/SCIENCEPHOTOLIBRARY/istock/getty images, MARK GARLICK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/istock/getty images

How particle physics and astronomy are intertwined

Artist’s impression shows how ULAS J1120+0641, a quasar powered by a black hole with a mass 2 billion times that of the Sun, may have looked. Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser

Could supermassive black holes be halting star formation?

Scientists are teaching drones to hunt for meteorites on Earth. Credit: Curtin University

Scientists are teaching drones to hunt for meteorites on Earth

Astronomers have captured the first ever image of Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the centre of our Galaxy. Credit: EHT Collaboration

Astronomers reveal first ever image of the black hole at the centre of our Galaxy

An image of our Galaxy’s core with Sagittarius A* at its centre, made from X-ray observations by the Swift Observatory from 2006-13. Credit: NASA/Swift/N. Degenaar

Our Galaxy’s central black hole erupts unpredictably and chaotically

did gravity kill dinosaurs

Did gravity kill the dinosaurs?

Hubble Space Telescope has spotted the most distant star ever seen. Credit: NASA/ESA/BRIAN WELCH (JHU), DAN COE (STSCI)/NASA/ESA/ALYSSA PAGAN (STSCI)

Hubble Space Telescope has spotted the farthest star ever seen

Why the speed of light is key to our understanding of the Universe. Credit: Eduard Muzhevskyi / Science Photo Library

Why the speed of light is so important

photograph moon terminator step 03

Strange things astronomers used to believe about the Moon

Then-Vatican Observatory director Father Coyne in the observatory of the Vatican, January 1992. Photo by Raphael GAILLARDE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

A brief history of the Vatican Observatory

Artist's impression of a gamma-ray burst. Credit: MARK GARLICK/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/istock/getty images

What is a gamma ray burst?

Snow-capped peak of Mauna Kea, the tallest volcano on Earth. Credit: JTSorrell / Getty Images

How Earth’s tallest volcano compares to volcanoes in our Solar System

A view of the Concordia base during winter. Credit: ESA/IPEV/PNRA–B. Healey

Searching for exoplanets from Antarctica

We can only see dark matter from its effect on stars and galaxies. Here, astronomers used the images of galaxies distorted by gravitational lensing to map out the dark matter, shown in blue. Credit: NASA, ESA, M. Jee and H. Ford (Johns Hopkins University)

7 scientists who pioneered our understanding of dark matter

NASA's Dr Richard Barry

Podcast: Hubble, James Webb and life beyond Earth