Christopher Crockett

A massive star lost most of its mass before exploding and creating a neutron star — and a second nearby neutron star might have been the thief. Last year, a tsunami of gravitational waves washed over Earth, heralding the collision of two neutron stars in a far-off galaxy. Such collisions appear to the birthplace of many of the heaviest elements such as gold, platinum, and uranium. Now, an unusual, rapidly brightening supernova might help researchers understand how such neutron star duos arise

An increase in the rate of cosmic rays detected by Voyager 2 indicates that the spacecraft is approaching the heliopause, where the solar wind gives way to the interstellar medium.

A failure of a gyroscope used to point and stabilize the Hubble telescope caused the observatory to safely shut down while engineers determine a fix.

Exoplanet Kepler-1625b might harbor a moon the size of Neptune—potentially the first confirmed exomoon—but researchers urge caution in interpreting the data.

Clues hidden in today’s orbits hint at the violent origins of the solar system — and a rogue giant kicked out long ago.

The Milky Way's two largest companion galaxies may have once been a threesome — but new data from the Gaia satellite leaves the satellites' history an open question.

After a 10-day lockdown to cooperate with a criminal investigation, the New Mexico observatory is back to looking at the Sun.

A vortex in the stratosphere mirrors a famous six-sided cyclone in the clouds below

NASA’s Juno spacecraft reveals unusual magnetism that suggests a convoluted interior

Nanoscale templates made from films of self-assembled polymers could be fabricated with fewer defects by putting the films on a curved surface.

By manipulating the momenta of ultracold atoms, researchers demonstrate a quantum walk—a potential ingredient for quantum search algorithms.

Strange entities called collexons hint at undiscovered physics among interacting subatomic particles in a semiconductor.

Molecular defects can improve the mechanical flexibility of graphene nanoribbons without affecting their electrical properties, new experiments show.

Simulations provide a detailed picture of the emission of dust grains in our Galaxy, which is known to interfere with measurements of the cosmic microwave background.

Researchers have spotted a never-before-seen collective spin oscillation in a Bose-Einstein condensate of chromium atoms.

Line failures can emerge and propagate in power grids because of varying power injections such as those from wind and solar plants.

Head-on collisions between icy moonlets might be responsible for the peculiar shapes of some of Saturn’s moons.

Simulations suggest that the gamma rays accompanying the neutron star merger detected in 2017 came from a short gamma-ray burst viewed at a 30° angle.

Calculations show that dark matter affects the propagation of gravitational waves but at a level far below the sensitivity of current detectors.

An MRI imaging technique reveals a structure of chiral domains in a slab of superfluid helium-3.