Astronomers spot a sneak peek of Earth's death — a star swallowing a planet whole — for the first time

Tech Insider
illustration of small orange planet touching giant yellow star with white and blue streaks of material shooting out
This artist's interpretation shows a star so bloated that it's engulfing a doomed planet.

K. Miller/R. Hurt (Caltech/IPAC

When, where, and how to see the rare alignment of 5 planets in the night sky this month

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Mars, Uranus, Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury on a sky background
Top to bottom: Mars, Uranus, Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury will align like this in late March. This image is not to scale. Images of the planets have been overlaid on the sky to show their order.

Stellarium/NASA/Insider

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope spots a rare star preparing to explode and die in a supernova

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bright star surrounded by layers of pink yellow red clouds billowing out in starry black space
A pre-supernova star, called a Wolf-Rayet star, in near-infrared and mid-infrared via the James Webb Space Telescope.

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERO Production Team

NASA image may show first-ever 'rogue' supermassive black hole, leaving a trail of newborn stars in its wake

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black and white photo of space shows trail going away from bright white dot
A potential supermassive black hole (bottom left arrow) leaves a trail of stars (middle arrow) as it's flung from a galaxy (top arrow).

NASA/ESA/Pieter van Dokkum et al./Astrophysical Journal Letters 2023

How to see the Jupiter-Venus conjunction shining bright enough for the naked eye on Thursday night

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night sky dark blue through dark trees with two dots bright overhead venus and jupiter
The planets Venus, left, and Jupiter, right, with three of its moons visible, appear close to each other in the sky above tree branches after dusk.

Ted S. Warren/AP Photo

Photos released by NASA show once-invisible spiral galaxies and a first look at star formation

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The Webb telescope’s images of NGC 1433, NGC 7496 & NGC 1365 reveal the galaxies' networks of gas and dust in extraordinary detail. This data is part of an ongoing Webb survey of 19 spiral galaxies.
The Webb telescope’s images of NGC 1433, NGC 7496 & NGC 1365 reveal the galaxies' networks of gas and dust in extraordinary detail. This data is part of an ongoing Webb survey of 19 spiral galaxies.

NASA

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