First Direct Evidence of Big Bang

Researchers studying the polarization of the cosmic microwave background have mapped the unique B-mode pattern that is consistent with that predicted for the primordial gravitational waves generated by the cosmic inflation in the fraction of a second following the Big Bang, providing the first physical evidence of gravitational waves as well as the theory of cosmic origins.

Cosmic Background "Web" Seen

Using a distant quasar to backlight a gas cloud two million light years across, cosmologists have imaged filaments in the gas of what is believed to be a dark matter "web" providing a large-scale structure to the expanding universe as predicted by computer simulations.

Accuracy of Measured Universe

Using baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) as a standard unit of measure, astronomers with the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey have measured the distances between galaxies in the universe to within 1% accuracy covering 10,000 square degrees of sky.

Voyager Leaves Solar System

A team of researchers has made the call that the Voyager I space probe has finally left the solar system (actually crossing over last summer) based on the disappearance of solar particle counts even though the local magnetic field has not changed, describing the irregular and ill-defined boundary as a "heliosheath depletion region."

Mysterious Deep-Space Explosions

Astronomers from the CSIRO Parkes radio telescope have detected four point sources of powerful fast radio bursts (FRB) of unknown origin outside the Milky Way galaxy and billions of light-years away, each lasting only a few milliseconds yet giving off more energy than does our Sun in 300,000 years.

Dying Dwarf Galaxy Found

Astronomers have spotted what is believed to be a dwarf elliptical galaxy (IC 3418) 54 million light years away in the process of "dying" as its inherent reservoir of gas is forced out as fireball features through a process of ram pressure stripping, essentially draining its "lifeblood" of gaseous raw material into space.

Largest Known Structure

Astronomers have discovered a large quasar group (LQG) that forms a structure 4 billion light years across, the largest known structure ever detected and one of such a size that it challenges the Cosmological Principle and modern cosmology for current estimates of the scale of the universe.

Giant Black Hole Discovered

Astronomers have discovered a supermassive black hole that is 17 billion times the mass of our Sun at the center of the disk galaxy NGC 1277, challenging current cosmological models as possibly the largest black hole yet discovered and possessing an unprecedented 14% of that galaxy's total mass.

New Type of Cosmic Ray

Astronomers have discovered the first new source of cosmic rays 100 years after their first discovery, the new low-energy type originating not from the explosion of supernovae but from the Arches cluster with the particles accelerated by the shock wave of the young stars moving at around 700,000 km/h.

Cosmic Blast Discovered in Trees

A study of growth rings in cedar trees from Yaku Island in southern Japan reveal a spike in the amount of carbon-14 between the years A.D. 774 and 775, revealing a previously unknown and unrecorded astronomical event that was the source of a cosmic ray bombardment.

Dark Matter Near Solar System

The most accurate study to date of the motions of more than 400 stars in the Milky Way galaxy has shown no evidence of the presence of dark matter in a large volume around the Sun and solar system, contradicting widely held theories about the prevalence of dark matter.

Multiple Types of Dark Matter

Hubble Space Telescope observations of the galactic cluster Abell 520, a composite region of several galaxies in collision about 2.4 billion light years distant, reveal a structure that does not correspond to current "dark matter" theory and may indicate the existence of several different species of dark matter.

Missing Planet Calculated

Inclusion of a missing fifth gas giant hurled into space some 4 billion years ago in computer simulations of the formation of our solar system produce reasonably accurate results of its planetary structure, whereas prior computer models continue to fail to explain the current makeup resulting in four gas giants and the inner rocky planets.

Unknown Gamma-Ray Sources

NASA's Fermi space telescope has completed its second all-sky map of energetic gamma-ray sources, with approximately 600 of the 1873 identified sources corresponding with no known object capable of producing such energy bursts, leaving these sources complete mysteries.

Densest Matter Created

Europe's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has created a quark-gluon plasma, the densest known material outside of black holes and a state that has not existed naturally since a trillionth of a second after the Big Bang.

Hubble Spies Earliest Galaxy

Images from the Hubble Telescope's ultra-deep field reveal what astronomers believe is the oldest and earliest galaxy yet found, formed some 13.2 billion years ago and a mere 480 million years after the Big Bang, existing at a time when star formation was some ten times slower than it was millions of years later.

Cosmological Standard Candles

New observations using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope show that Cepheid variables, pulsating stars often used as calibration points to measure cosmological distances, can lose mass and shrink over time and thus make measurements of distance more difficult.

Wreckage from "Pristine Star"

Astronomers have detected the remnants of a star that exploded more than 13 billion years ago, likely one of the very first generation of stars to exist in our universe, whose chemical constituents were almost only hydrogen and helium.

Gamma-Ray Structures

NASA's Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope has detected large gamma-ray structures bubbling 25,000 light years both above and below the Milky Way's galactic center, with theories as to their origin ranging from remnants of ancient star formation to activity from the central black hole at the core.

Age of Solar System

After analysis of the uranium isotopes in the Efremovka and Allende meteorites found in Kazakhstan in 1962 and Mexico in 1969, respectively, scientists have determined an age of 4.5682 billion years as the age of our solar system, a value up to 1.9 million years older than previous estimates.