Formation of stars and planets

Astrophysicists are using a global atmospheric model to help them coordinate a multicontinent, radio-frequency observing campaign to gaze at the black hole at the center of the Milky Way.

Because of a new, surprisingly smaller mass estimate for a much-studied, nearby brown dwarf, astronomers now regard the familiar object as merely planetlike.

The proposed formation scenario relies on unconventional processes to account for a bevy of seven Earth-sized exoplanets recently found orbiting an unlikely star.

Although all the exoplanets orbit closer than Mercury does to our Sun, liquid water may persist on some of them because their star radiates so little heat.