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![a big ole galaxy with a handful of thin light streams jetting in various directions](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/TLAqW6ft7z2wjS4rbKfJga-320-80.jpg)
Mysterious dark matter may leave clues in 'strings of pearls' trailing our galaxy
By Sharmila Kuthunur published
Starting in late 2025, the Vera C. Rubin observatory will image the outskirts of our galaxy in search of dark matter clues.
![Thousands of glowing white and blue stars with a denser cluster towards the center of the image.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/T6jup68AS3UGqfEdHZjjCH-320-80.jpg)
What are globular clusters?
By Conor Feehly last updated
Reference Globular clusters are densely packed, spherical collections of ancient stars. Here we explore them in more detail.
![illustration showing a bright ball of white light in deep space, with a blue arc curving away from it](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/XDmeMfSQYdxGJYXFXYPY3i-320-80.png)
Record breaker! Milky Way's most monstrous stellar-mass black hole is sleeping giant lurking close to Earth (Video)
By Robert Lea last updated
Astronomers have discovered the most massive stellar-born black hole ever seen in the Milky Way, and it lies relatively close to Earth.
![This image of Uranus from NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) on the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope shows the planet and its rings in new clarity. The Webb image exquisitely captures Uranus’s seasonal north polar cap, including the bright, white, inner cap and the dark lane in the bottom of the polar cap. Uranus’ dim inner and outer rings are also visible in this image, including the elusive Zeta ring—the extremely faint and diffuse ring closest to the planet.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/QXTH8EoUPSziCn8kPSGVBg-320-80.jpg)
Uranus and Neptune aren't made of what we thought, new study hints
By Deepa Jain published
A study suggests the ice giants Uranus and Neptune aren't quite as watery as previously thought. They may also contain huge amounts of frozen methane, potentially solving the puzzle of how they formed.
![In the field of one of JWST's largest-area surveys, COSMOS-Web, an Einstein ring was discovered around a compact, distant galaxy. It turns out to be the most distant gravitational lens ever discovered by a few billion light-years.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/JCxsoVAh2S6BxpFnjccEif-320-80.jpg)
Exotic 'Einstein ring' suggests that mysterious dark matter interacts with itself
By Sharmila Kuthunur published
The unexplained mass of a remarkably massive galaxy suggests that dark matter interacts with itself, according to new observations by the James Webb Space Telescope.
![(Main) a view of the distant quasar SDSS J114816.64+525150.3 located 12.9 billion light-years away (inset) an illustration of a quasar](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/cruMKGwskHCmqry6MNbjyS-320-80.png)
Monster black hole seen feeding on nearby matter just 1 billion years after Big Bang (photos)
By Robert Lea published
The robotic telescopes of the Virtual Telescope Project have observed a quasar powered by a supermassive black hole 3 billion times as massive as the sun at the very edge of the universe
![An illustration of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) year-one data, showing a slice of the larger 3D map that DESI is constructing during its five-year survey.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/q5gWeFvQRDqThzoaNwaXSg-320-80.png)
Dark energy could be getting weaker, suggesting the universe will end in a 'Big Crunch'
By Robert Lea published
The first year of Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) data seems to show that dark energy is weakening over time, possibly the biggest cosmological discovery for 25 years.
![A chunk of gray rock.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/rnm73GKEB3CtX9ECirFoBh-320-80.jpg)
Iconic British meteorite 'Winchcombe' found to have a smashing past
By Keith Cooper published
A detailed analysis of the Winchcombe meteorite has found evidence that its parent asteroid was altered by water before being smashed apart multiple times.
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