Editor’s note: This article was originally published Aug. 13, 2025, and has been updated to include new text and illustrations featured in the January 2026 issue of Astronomy. Using an artificial ...

Some massive stars may go out with a fizzle, not a bang. A star that winked out of view could be a “failed supernova,” a stellar explosion that petered out instead of fully detonating, a new study ...

For the first time, astronomers have spotted a rapidly spinning neutron star that is gravitationally bound to a helium star companion. The discovery of this unusual binary system helps confirm a long ...