The universe
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The Sun is one rather faint example of approximately 200,000,000,000 stars that make up our galaxy.
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Gamma ray bursts (GRBs) are short-lived flares of gamma rays originating from deep space. -
Cosmology is the study of the origin and development of the Universe and the currently most popular theory is that of the Big Bang.
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The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence dates from 1960. -
By watching a gravitational microlensing event, UK astronomers may have detected a brown dwarf in the Andromeda galaxy (M31) for the first time. -
European astronomers have used the orbiting X-ray observatory XMM-Newton to look back at the early Universe. -
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has obtained an ultraviolet (UV) image of the galaxy NGC 6782 and revealed a bright ring around its nucleus. -
A gamma-ray burst from the early Universe has been observed by astronomers from the USA, Finland and Denmark. -
In 2005 VLT and HST were used to obtain a spectrum from a dark matter object for the first time. -
The vast majority of scientists accept the Big Bang theory for the origin of the universe. According to this model the universe is about 13,700 million years old.
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Two UK astronomers have confirmed the existence of ‘free-floating' planets in the Orion nebula, M42. -
In 2004 more than 50 extrasolar planets had been detected since serious searches began in the mid-1990s. -
In 2002 three planets about the size of Jupiter were discovered in a region of Orion about 1,000 light years away. -
New images from NASA's Chandra orbiting X-ray observatory show strong evidence for a pulsar in the supernova remnant G292.0+1.8. -
In 2001 the Gemini North telescope obtained a striking image of gas being expelled from a young massive star. -
In 2002 the most distant group of galaxies was discovered about 13.5 billion light-years away from our Milky Way galaxy. -
In 2003 an international team of astronomers discovered a Jupiter-like planet in orbit around a star like our Sun. -
In 2003 a flat star was seen with measurements made using the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI).
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In 2003 astronomers discovered the bright, hot, star-forming region known as the Lynx arc. -
In 2003 astronomers found a companion in collision with our galaxy, the Milky Way.
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In 2004 the Hubble Space Telescope revealed the most distant and oldest galaxies seen to that date. -
Astronomers have found more than 500 galaxies that formed less than a billion years after the Big Bang. -
Astronomers announced in 2006 the discovery of the smallest planet found to date around another star. -
Astronomers announced in 2006 the discovery of a pair of planet-sized objects, drifting through space unattached to any star.
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In 2006, what may the early stage of the formation of a galaxy was discovered more than 10 billion light years away. -
The supernova remnant RCW103 was discovered in 2006. It originated in the colossal explosion of a star as a supernova about 2000 years ago. -
In 2006 a comet-like ball of gas was found, moving through a cluster of galaxies at 750 km per second.
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In 2006 radio astronomers watched the aftermath of an explosion in a star system 5000 light years away. -
In 2006 a newly discovered planet was claimed by astronomers as being unlike any other known world. -
Astronomers discovered in 2006 a planet in orbit around the star Epsilon Eridani, a close neighbour to our Sun.