Topic description and stories

Stephen Hawking

Taming the multiverse: Stephen Hawking’s final theory about the big bang

02 May 2018

Professor Stephen Hawking’s final theory on the origin of the universe, which he worked on in collaboration with Professor Thomas Hertog from KU...

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Artist's impression of spinning galaxy

Astronomers detect ‘whirlpool’ movement in earliest galaxies

10 Jan 2018

Astronomers have looked back to a time soon after the Big Bang, and have discovered swirling gas in some of the earliest galaxies to have formed in...

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Supermassive black holes.

A force to be reckoned with

27 Nov 2017

Gravity is one of the universe's great mysteries. We decided to find out why. Think you know what gravity is? Think again. New research is revealing...

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First detection of gravitational waves and light produced by colliding neutron stars

16 Oct 2017

In a galaxy far away, two dead stars begin a final spiral into a massive collision. The resulting explosion unleashes a huge burst of energy, sending...

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Stephen Hawking

Cambridge celebrates Stephen Hawking’s 75th birthday

03 Jul 2017

Some of the biggest names in science took part in a special public event yesterday (2 July) to celebrate the life and work of Stephen Hawking, on the...

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Artist's conception shows two merging black holes similar to those detected by LIGO.

LIGO detects gravitational waves for third time

01 Jun 2017

Results confirm new population of black holes.

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Artist's concept of a supermassive black hole

‘Saddle-shaped’ universe could undermine general relativity

22 May 2017

Researchers have shown how singularities – which are normally only found at the centre of black holes and hidden from view – could exist in highly...

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X-ray view of the Perseus cluster

Dead satellite finds a calm centre at the heart of brightest galaxy cluster in the sky

06 Jul 2016

With its very first – and last – observation, the Hitomi x-ray observatory has discovered that the gas in the Perseus cluster of galaxies is much...

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Star field - 4

Five-dimensional black hole could ‘break’ general relativity

19 Feb 2016

Researchers have successfully simulated how a ring-shaped black hole could cause general relativity to break down: assuming the universe contains at...

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Gravitational waves detected 100 years after Einstein’s prediction

11 Feb 2016

New window on the universe is opened with the observation of gravitational waves – ripples in spacetime – caused by the collision of two black holes...

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Artist’s impression of one of the possible galaxy strangulation mechanisms: star-forming galaxies (fed by gas inflows) are accreted into a massive hot halo, which ‘strangles’ them and leads to their death.

Cause of galactic death: strangulation

13 May 2015

Astronomers have partially solved an epic whodunit: what kills galaxies so that they can no longer produce new stars?

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Orion Nebula / M42

How to explore the whole universe: watch COSMO 2013 live

04 Sep 2013

Watch speakers such as Stephen Hawking and Brian Cox this evening as the public symposium of the 17th International Conference on Particle Physics...

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