ScienceDaily: Space & Time News

The first full-color image from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope reveals thousands of galaxies, including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared.

In 2019, astronomers observed the nearest example to date of a star that was shredded, or 'spaghettified,' after approaching too close to a massive black hole. That tidal disruption of a sun-like star by a black hole 1 million times more massive than itself took place 215 million light years from Earth. Luckily, this was the first such event bright enough that astronomers could study the optical light from the stellar death, specifically the light's polarization, to learn more about what happened after the star was torn apart.

When NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft arrived at the asteroid Bennu, scientists discovered something surprising: The asteroid's surface wasn't smooth like many were expecting but was covered in large boulders. Now, a team of physicists think they know why.