One possible explanation for the irregular pattern is the remains of an exploded supernova, such as the nearby supernova remnant Vela, whose location corresponds to one of the cosmic-ray hotspots.

Scientists have uncovered two pairs of planets so close to each other that they interact gravitationally.

WR 22, a member of a double star system in the Carina Nebula, is shedding its atmosphere at a rate many millions times faster than our Sun.

The test gauges how the mirrors change temperature and shape over a range of operational temperatures in space.

Scientists have significantly narrowed down the possible mass range of the elusive Higgs boson particle, predicted to exist by the standard model of particle physics.

This is the first direct observation linking a high-flying star to a galactic center origin.

The map was constructed using almost 21,000 images from the Thermal Emission Imaging System, a multiband infrared camera.

Buckyballs are the largest molecules known to exist in space.

The results open the possibility that dark gamma-ray bursts may spring from high-metallicty environments.

Prometheus' gravitational pull sloshes ring material around, creating wake channels that trigger the formation of objects as large as 12 miles in diameter.

Either a merging of the two central black holes from the colliding galaxies or more gas falling onto the black hole caused the spin axis to jerk around to its present direction.

Sound waves in the early universe are thought to have left detectable imprints on the large-scale distribution of galaxies. The researchers developed a way to measure such imprints by observing the radio emission of hydrogen gas.

Star R136a1 is the most massive star ever found with a current mass of about 265 solar masses and a birth mass of about 320 times that of the Sun.

WISE has observed more than 100,000 asteroids — most in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter, but some near-Earth objects, asteroids, and comets as well.

The Cluster mission provides a 3-D picture of how the continuous solar wind of charged particles or plasma from the Sun affects our near-Earth space environment and its protective magnetosphere.

Using data gathered by NASA's Cassini spacecraft over a span of 4 years, researchers have obtained two separate lines of evidence showing a roughly consistent yearly drop in the levels of lakes in Titan's southern hemisphere.

A quasar, acting as a gravitation lens, has magnified a distant galaxy.

Data from the final flyby has revealed the first observations of ion emissions in Mercury's exosphere, new information about the planet's magnetic substorms, and evidence of young volcanic activity.

Although the Swift satellite was designed specifically to study gamma-ray bursts, the instrument was not designed to handle an X-ray blast this bright.

Observations suggest powerful stellar winds are sweeping the cast-off atmospheric material behind the scorched planet and shaping it into a comet-like tail.