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Thousands of glowing white and blue stars with a denser cluster towards the center of the image.

What are globular clusters?

By Conor Feehly last updated

Reference Globular clusters are densely packed, spherical collections of ancient stars. Here we explore them in more detail.

Reference
A hazy view of space with oranges, reds and grays. There are a few sparkling stars speckled in the scene.

These 3 stars are losing weight fast — thanks to stellar winds way stronger than the sun's

By Robert Lea published

"Our estimated mass-loss rates can be used as a benchmark for stellar wind models and expand our limited observational evidence for the winds of sun-like stars."

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An artist's impression of an erupting magnetar

One of the universe's most 'extreme' dead stars just sprang back to life unexpectedly

By Robert Lea published

The closest extreme magnetic dead star or magnetar to Earth suddenly burst back to life to give astronomers a sight of unexpected and unexplained phenomena that are unlike anything seen before.

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Light blue, nearly transparent, lines are seen almost tangled on the left side of the image. They go through the dark part of a horizontal disk on the screen. To the right of this disk there's a bit of glowing orange light.

Achoo! Baby star 'sneezes' tell astronomers a lot about their development

By Robert Lea published

Achoo! Baby stars "sneeze" to rid themselves of excess energy during their formation process, astronomers using the ALMA telescope array have found.

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An image of the bipolar nebula NGC 6164/6165, which hosts the magnetic binary star system HD 148937. The image was taken by the VLT Survey Telescope in Chile.

Monster star gains magnetic personality following stellar merger

By Keith Cooper published

A rare massive star possessing a magnetic field could have produced its dynamo after merging with another star.

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six images of different galaxies

Stars make a bigger mess in old galaxies, and scientists just figured out why

By Keith Cooper published

More evolved galaxies demonstrate a greater range of stellar motions compared to the orderly, circular orbits of stars like our sun in the Milky Way.

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a small, bright blue central dot erupts with rays of brilliant pink and yellow-green, with shining stars dispersed within as well as around in the black of space.

Peer inside remnants of an 800-year-old supernova and see a 'zombie' star

By Stefanie Waldek published

NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory images the firework-like remnants of the great supernova of 1181.

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An illustration of a space telescope with a metallic disk around it. In the background, in space, there is a bright blue star and a bright orange star next to it.

Like the 90s, binary stars are back in style

By Robert Lea published

For many years, binary star research has been as neglected as an old Tamagotchi. But now, the Gaia space telescope is leading a resurgence in interest in binary star systems.

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An illustration shows a massive star cannibalising a smaller star around the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way

Cannibal stars at the heart of the Milky Way stay young in a gruesome way

By Robert Lea published

To remain youthful in a cosmic demolition derby around supermassive black hole Sagittarius A*, some cannibalistic stars gruesomely bathe in outer layers of their stellar victims.

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A hazy scene with orange and burgundy gaseous clouds. A burst of bright blue stars is concentrated toward the right. A single red star is seen in the center-top.

Hubble Space Telescope finds bucket of cosmic Easter eggs — 500 blue and red stars

By Robert Lea published

Observations for the ULLYSES program, the Hubble Telescope's largest operation yet, are now completed. Scientists are now diving into some cosmic Easter treats.

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