George Smoot obituary: Charismatic cosmologist who revealed ripples in the Big Bang’s afterglow

Why space exploration needs science leadership now before it’s too late

Huge eruption on a distant star confirmed at last

Radio burst from a stellar coronal mass ejection

Surprise tail’ found on an iconic galaxy may rewrite its history

A host of exocomets’ swarms a distant star

From the archive: Do sunspots affect the price of corn?

Biggest black-hole outburst ever seen records death throes of a star

Secret route to warm cosmic inflation’: the nuclear force

Experiments reveal extreme water generation during planet formation

To make water, exoplanets might just need some pressure

How to understand exoplanets space scientists call on lab-based chemists to help

Why we still don’t understand the Universe even after a century of dispute

Mysterious cosmic dots’ are baffling astronomers. What are they?

Gigantic black holes did not have starring role in early cosmic transition

How stereotypes shape AI - and what that means for the future of hiring

Southward impact excavated magma ocean at the lunar South Pole-Aitken basin

Rogue’ planet is fastest-growing ever observed

These alien planets are astronomers’ favourites: here’s why

Death of a star leaves a legacy for exoplanets

See space fireworks and lightning spaghetti September’s best science images

The Moon is rusting thanks to wind’ blown all the way from Earth

How a mentoring connection boosted my ambitions for a science career

Stratified wind from a super-Eddington X-ray binary is slower than expected

Rare comet photobombs telescope’s view of the cosmos

LIGO is 10 years old: black-hole breakthroughs will only get better’

Clearest gravitational-wave detection yet confirms Hawking’s black-hole theory

Late fluid flow in a primitive asteroid revealed by Lu-Hf isotopes in Ryugu

How did the oldest star clusters form?

The emergence of globular clusters and globular-cluster-like dwarfs