The two spiral arms winding towards the bright centre might deceive you into thinking you are looking at a galaxy a bit like our Milky Way. But the object starring in this image is of a different ...

The most obvious one is astronomers’ use of the word metal to mean any element heavier than helium. Using a single term to ...

The Andromeda galaxy helped Edwin Hubble settle a great debate in astronomy. Stocktrek Images via Getty Images A hundred years ago, astronomer Edwin Hubble dramatically expanded the size of the known ...

When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Circa 1945: Astronomer Dr. Edwin Powell Hubble sitting in a chair at a desk reading a journal. A ...

Vesto Slipher first observed that galaxies are moving away from us. Edwin Hubble later showed a relationship between galaxy distance and speed. Hubble's work relied heavily on Slipher's earlier data.

Early understandings of the Milky Way, from mythological interpretations to Aristotle's atmospheric explanation, lacked the technological tools for accurate observation and were superseded by the ...

Astronomers, maybe more than anyone, appreciate what an island of perfection our Earth is. Our orbit may put us at a perfect distance from the sun for life to flourish, but it is too small to easily ...

We're used to seeing spiral galaxies in deep space, but other types of outer-space spirals are positively spooky. Astronomers say that this whirligig, more than 3,000 light-years away in the ...