Astronomers discover giant cosmic sheet around the Milky Way
For decades, astronomers wondered why most nearby galaxies are speeding away from the Milky Way instead of being pulled in by its gravity. New simulations reveal the answer: our galaxy sits in a gigantic, flat sheet of matter surrounded by huge empty voids. This hidden structure—dominated by dark matter—balances gravitational forces and lets neighboring galaxies drift outward. The discovery finally explains the puzzling motions of galaxies just beyond our Local Group.
"The big bang wasn’t the start of everything, but it has been impossible to see what came before. Now a new kind of cosmology is lifting the veil on the beginning of time"
We’ve glimpsed before the big bang and it’s not what we expected | New Scientist
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2514293-weve-glimpsed-before-the-big-bang-and-its-not-what-we-expected/ #BecauseScience
We’ve glimpsed before the big bang and it’s not what we expected
The big bang wasn’t the start of everything, but it has been impossible to see what came before. Now a new kind of cosmology is lifting the veil on the beginning of time
"Strange infrared glow found in archival data from a defunct NASA mission"
Scientists get clearest view ever of star collapsing into a black hole. And they very nearly missed it | BBC Sky at Night Magazine
https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/news/m31-2014-ds1-black-hole #BecauseScience
Scientists get clearest view ever of star collapsing into a black hole. And they very nearly missed it | BBC Sky at Night Magazine
M31-2014-DS1 is a star in the Andromeda Galaxy that underwent a brightening in infrared. Astronomers say it was a star becoming a black hole.
Astronomers detected a strong signal from space lasting seven hours. Now they may have worked out what it was | BBC Sky at Night Magazine
https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/news/grb-250702b-study-interview #BecauseScience
Astronomers detected a strong signal from space lasting seven hours. Now they may have worked out what it was | BBC Sky at Night Magazine
In 2025, astronomers detected a blast from space lasting seven hours. Now they’re uncovering the processes behind the exceptional outburst.
Every major galaxy is speeding away from the Milky Way, except one — and we finally know why
A vast, flat sheet of dark matter may solve the long-standing mystery of why our neighboring galaxy Andromeda is speeding toward us while our other neighbors are moving away from us.
New animal species that survived mass extinction event half a billion years ago found in a quarry in China - CBS News
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ancient-species-mass-extinction-event-found-quarry-china/ #BecauseScience
New animal species that survived mass extinction event half a billion years ago found in a quarry in China
The fossils offer a rare glimpse into a cataclysmic event that brought a sudden end to the greatest explosion of life in our planet's history.
Mysterious dark matter seen in new high-resolution map of distant galaxies - CBS News
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dark-matter-map-distant-galaxies/ #BecauseScience
Mysterious dark matter seen in new high-resolution map of distant galaxies
Dark matter doesn't absorb or give off light so scientists can't study it directly. But they can observe how its gravity warps and bends the star stuff around it.
Mysterious Giants Could Be a Whole New Kind of Life That No Longer Exists
Ever since their discovery more than 165 years ago, massive fossilized structures left by an organism known as Prototaxites have proven impossible to categorize.
What is below Earth, since space is present in every direction?
When my colleagues and I send them out to explore our solar system, it's important for us to understand the 3D map of our space neighborhood.
Black hole space volcano erupts after 100 million year nap
Spanning 1 million light-years, J1007+3540's plasma jets are nearly 10 times wider than the Milky Way.
Joe Klemmer