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By Ashley Strickland, CNN Astronomers might have solved the mystery behind an unusually brightening star. University of Washington doctoral student Anastasios Tzanidakis and research assistant professor of astronomy James Davenport were searching for “stars behaving strangely” when they received an alert about a potential stellar oddity from the Gaia spacecraft. The space observatory, launched by

By Ashley Strickland, CNN A NASA mission has spotted an Earth-size exoplanet orbiting a small star about 100 light-years away. The planet, named TOI 700 e, is likely rocky and 95% the size of our world. The celestial body is the fourth planet to be detected orbiting the small, cool M dwarf star TOI 700.

By Ashley Strickland, CNN Two supermassive black holes have been spotted feasting on cosmic materials as two galaxies in distant space merge — and are the closest to colliding black holes astronomers have ever observed. Astronomers spotted the pair while using the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array of telescopes, or ALMA, in northern Chile’s Atacama Desert,

By Ashley Strickland, CNN A recently discovered comet will soon make an appearance in the night sky for the first time in 50,000 years. Discovered on March 2, 2022 by astronomers using the Zwicky Transient Facility’s wide-field survey camera at the Palomar Observatory in San Diego County, California, the comet will make its closest approach

By Ashley Strickland, CNN January’s full moon will light up the sky on Friday, and will be visible all around the world. It will reach peak illumination around 6:08 p.m. ET Friday, rising in the east as the sun sets in the US, according to EarthSky. The full moon is considered a micromoon because it

By Ashley Strickland, CNN Astronomers glimpsed a stellar nursery in a new light, thanks to the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy in Chile. The VISTA telescope, located at the European Southern Observatory’s Paranal Observatory in Antofagasta, Chile, observed the Sh2-54 Nebula in infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye. While visible

By Ashley Strickland, CNN Stunning meteor showers, full moons and eclipses will light up the sky in 2023. The year is sure to be a sky-gazer’s delight with plenty of celestial events on the calendar. A comet discovered in March 2022 will make its closest approach to the sun on January 12, according to NASA.