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A group of astronomers have shown that the fastest-moving stars in our galaxy – which are travelling so fast that they can escape the Milky Way – are in fact runaways from a much smaller galaxy in orbit around our own. 

Some of the biggest names in science took part in a special public event yesterday (2 July) to celebrate the life and work of Stephen Hawking, on the occasion of his 75th birthday. 

Results confirm new population of black holes.

An international team of astronomers, including researchers from the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge, used data gathered by the Kepler Space Telescope to observe and confirm details of the outermost of seven exoplanets orbiting the star TRAPPIST-1.

An international team of astronomers, including researchers from the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge, has made the most detailed image of the ring of dusty debris surrounding a young star and found that the ice content of colliding comets within it is similar to comets in our own solar system.

Astronomers have made the first measurements of small-scale fluctuations in the cosmic web 2 billion years after the Big Bang. These measurements were conducted using a novel technique which relies on the light of quasars crossing the cosmic web along adjacent lines of sight.

Martin Rees is Emeritus Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics at the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge, the Astronomer Royal, a member of Britain’s House of Lords, and a former President of the Royal Society. ̽»¨Ö±²¥following interview was conducted at Trinity College, Cambridge, by ̽»¨Ö±²¥Conversation’s Matt Warren.

So what has the ERC ever done for us? Quite a lot, say Cambridge academics, as they mark the 10th anniversary of Europe’s premier research-funding body

Astronomers have made the most detailed observation yet of an ultra-fast wind emanating from a Black Hole at a quarter of the speed of light. Using the European Space Agency (ESA)’s XMM-Newton and NASA’s NuSTAR telescopes, the scientists observed the phenomenon in an active galaxy known as IRAS 13224-3809.

An international team of astronomers has found a system of seven potentially habitable planets orbiting a star 39 light years away three of which could have water on their surfaces raising the possibility they could host life. Using ground and space telescopes, the team identified the planets as they passed in front of the ultracool dwarf star known as TRAPPIST-1. ̽»¨Ö±²¥star is around eight per cent of the mass of the Sun and is no bigger than Jupiter.