Journal News

Webb discovers 'weird' galaxy with gas outshining its stars
The discovery of a "weird" and unprecedented galaxy in the early Universe could "help us understand how the cosmic story began", astronomers say. GS-NDG-9422 (9422) was found approximately one billion years after the Big Bang and stood out because…
Huge gamma-ray burst collection ‘rivals 250-year-old Messier catalogue’
Hundreds of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have been recorded as part of an enormous global effort so extensive it "rivals the catalogue of deep-sky objects created by Messier 250 years ago", astronomers say. GRBs are the most violent explosions in the U…
Scorching storms on distant worlds revealed in new detail
Astronomers have created the most detailed weather report so far for two distant worlds beyond our own solar system. The international study – the first of its kind – reveals the extreme atmospheric conditions on the celestial objects, which are swa…
How the 'heart and lungs' of a galaxy extend its life
Galaxies avoid an early death because they have a "heart and lungs" which effectively regulate their "breathing" and prevent them growing out of control, a new study suggests. If they didn't, the Universe would have aged much faster than it has and…
MNRAS Student Prize
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS) is delighted to announce a new annual student prize for the best paper published in the journal by a student scientist. The winner will receive a cash prize and a certificate of recogni…
Rare 'exo-Venus' with Earth-like temperature discovered
Astronomers have made the rare and tantalising discovery of an Earth-like exoplanet 40 light-years away that may be just a little warmer than our own world. The potentially-habitable planet, named Gliese 12 b, orbits its host star every 12.8 days, i…
‘Swallowed’, torn up or live on: How Earth will fare when the Sun dies
Our solar system and everything within it - including the Earth - will look very different when the Sun dies. But whether the planet we call home is “swallowed” up by our dying star or manages to escape its clutches, only time will tell. The inner…
Trailblazing seismologist named new editor-in-chief of GJI
A globally-renowned seismologist who has studied every major earthquake of the past 35 years has been appointed editor-in-chief of Geophysical Journal International (GJI), one of the world's leading peer-reviewed research journals in solid-Earth geop…
End of nuclear secrecy? Underground tests now '99% detectable'
Secret underground nuclear tests could now be a thing of the past thanks to a major scientific breakthrough in ways to identify them. A team of Earth scientists and statisticians say they can now tell with 99 per cent accuracy if such an explosion h…
'Old smokers' and 'squalling newborns' among hidden stars spotted for first time
'Hidden' stars including a new type of elderly giant nicknamed an 'old smoker' have been spotted for the first time by astronomers. The mystery objects exist at the heart of our Milky Way galaxy and can sit quietly for decades – fading almost to inv…
New images reveal what Neptune and Uranus really look like
Neptune is fondly known for being a rich blue and Uranus green – but a new study has revealed that the two ice giants are actually far closer in colour than typically thought. The correct shades of the planets have been confirmed with the help…