100 years after Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves through his theory of general relativity, a team of astrophysicists has announced the detection of these distortions made in the fabric of space. "With this new discovery, we humans are embarking on a marvelous new quest: the quest to explore the warped side of the Universe—objects and phenomena that are made from warped spacetime," remarks gravitational physicist Kip Thorne.
read more

A team of planetary scientists from the California Institute of Technology have published a paper documenting strong circumstantial evidence for a large planet with an orbit outside of Pluto’s. This yet-undiscovered planet is hypothesized to be smaller than Neptune, but would be 10-times more massive than Earth, and comes no closer than 30.5 billion km (19 billion miles) to the Sun.
read more

In a first for astronomy, a distant supernova has been observed that was previously predicted to appear, has been imaged by a team of astronomers from the University of South Carolina, using the Hubble Space Telescope. The prediction utilized the effect of gravitational lensing, where the gravity of a massive object will bend light from a source behind it around itself, as if it were an optical lens.
read more

With recent advances in imaging technology pushing the boundaries of astronomy and space exploration more rapidly than ever before, new discoveries within the solar system and beyond are now being made at a breakneck pace. Part of that exploration has been for the elusive Planet X, a theorized large trans-Neptunian world that has otherwise eluded attempts at detection. Until now, only smaller planetoids have been discovered in the deep dark of space, but two new findings hold promise as new candidates for the title of Planet X.
read more