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Artist's impression of the exoplanet K2-18b, with a red dwarf star behind it

Strongest hints yet of biological activity outside the solar system

17 Apr 2025

Astronomers have detected the most promising signs yet of a possible biosignature outside the solar system, although they remain cautious.

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Millimetre continuum images for the REASONS resolved sample of 74 exocomet belts

Scientists reveal structure of 74 exocomet belts orbiting nearby stars

17 Jan 2025

An international team of astrophysicists has imaged a large number of exocomet belts around nearby stars, and the tiny pebbles within them.

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This infrared image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was taken for the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey, or JADES, programme.

Early universe crackled with bursts of star formation, Webb Telescope shows

06 Jun 2023

Among the most fundamental questions in astronomy is: How did the first stars and galaxies form? ̽»¨Ö±²¥James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a partnership...

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Emily Mitchell, Didier Queloz, Kate Adamal, Carl Zimmer. Landscape with Milky way galaxy. Sunrise and Earth view from space with Milky way galaxy. (Elements of this image furnished by NASA).

Humanity’s quest to discover the origins of life in the universe

08 Mar 2023

Scientists from the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge, ETH Zurich, Harvard ̽»¨Ö±²¥, and the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Chicago have founded the Origins Federation, which...

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Observations by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have taken advantage of gravitational lensing to reveal the largest sample of the faintest and earliest known galaxies in the universe.

Non-detection of key signal allows astronomers to determine what the first galaxies were – and weren’t – like

28 Nov 2022

Researchers have been able to make some key determinations about the first galaxies to exist, in one of the first astrophysical studies of the period...

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A pin being pushed into a bubble, in which there is an image of the Universe

Can cosmic inflation be ruled out?

03 Nov 2022

Astrophysicists say that cosmic inflation – a point in the Universe’s infancy when space-time expanded exponentially, and what physicists really...

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Artist’s impression of the exoplanet GJ 1132 b

Hubble sees new atmosphere forming on a rocky exoplanet

11 Mar 2021

For the first time, scientists using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope have found evidence of volcanic activity reforming the atmosphere on a rocky...

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New Simulation Sheds Light on Spiraling Supermassive Black Holes

Quantum projects launched to solve universe’s mysteries

13 Jan 2021

Researchers will use cutting-edge quantum technologies to transform our understanding of the universe and answer key questions such as the nature of...

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European flags outside EU in Belgium

Cambridge researchers awarded European Research Council funding

09 Dec 2020

Five researchers at the ̽»¨Ö±²¥ of Cambridge have won consolidator grants from the European Research Council (ERC), Europe’s premiere funding...

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AI shows how hydrogen becomes a metal inside giant planets

09 Sep 2020

Researchers have used a combination of AI and quantum mechanics to reveal how hydrogen gradually turns into a metal in giant planets.

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Night sky at ESO's Paranal Observatory in Chile

‘Lost’ world’s rediscovery is step towards finding habitable planets

21 Jul 2020

̽»¨Ö±²¥rediscovery of a lost planet could pave the way for the detection of a world within the habitable ‘Goldilocks zone’ in a distant solar system.

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Professor Andrew Fabian awarded Kavli Prize

27 May 2020

Professor Andrew Fabian from Cambridge's Institute of Astronomy has been awarded the 2020 Kavli Prize in Astrophysics, one of the world's most...

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