general relativity
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Physicists Measure Gravity of Smallest Mass Yet
Despite keeping us grounded and warping light that travels through space, gravity is actually quite a weak force. The smaller the mass, the less gravity appears to have any pull, until at quantum scales it appears to have no force at all. Now, physicists in England and Europe have measured a tiny—but apparent—gravitational pull on…
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Mystery Object in Deep Space Is Confounding Astronomers
The super-dense object doesn’t quite fit with what we know about black holes or neutron stars.
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Perplexing Pulsar ‘Switching’ Behaviour Finally Deciphered by Astronomers
A rapidly spinning dead star’s wacky fluctuations in brightness are due to the extreme environment surrounding the object, according to a team of astronomers who observed it. Pulsars are fast-spinning magnetic star remains that spew electromagnetic radiation. They’re sometimes called “cosmic lighthouses,” because the jets of light they reliably emit can be precisely timed to…
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Cosmic ‘Lighthouses’ That Beam Gamma Rays Could Reveal Gravitational Waves All Around Us
A team of astronomers have compiled 12.5 years of data from the Fermi Gammy-ray Space Telescope to form a gamma-ray pulsar timing array, a system of cosmic lighthouses that could help reveal ripples in spacetime.