Neutron star and black hole masses in binary systems are calculable using Kepler's laws of motion, based on orbital parameters and object speeds. Merging neutron stars or black holes emit ...

In a recent piece for my column The Universe, I wrote about the biggest black holes in the cosmos. Black holes are rather famous for being, well, black because they can gobble down even light itself.

It's fun to think about how we know stuff. For instance, the sun has a mass of about 2 x 10 30 kilograms. That is such an enormous mass that it's difficult to comprehend. And if it's so difficult for ...

Astronomers cannot directly weigh celestial objects like galaxies; indirect methods are necessary. Mass determination leverages the relationship between gravity and mass, utilizing orbital periods and ...

General relativity, our best theory of gravity, predicts that mass bends light. In gravitational lensing, light from a distant object is deflected by an intervening galaxy or cluster of galaxies. By ...

A gram is a standard unit of measurement. It is a word used to describe the mass of an object. You record the mass of light objects in grams. One way to measure the mass of objects is to use balance ...

There are quite a few fundamental constants. These are things like the speed of light (c) the charge on an electron (e), and the Planck constant (h). These constants are determined with some type of ...

The terms weight and mass are often used incorrectly. Phrases like ‘a bag of sugar weighs 1 kg’ are not scientifically correct. This means that a 1 kg mass would be attracted to Earth by a force of 10 ...

The breakthrough measurement of the white dwarf LAWD 37 made with Hubble gives us a hint of how the sun will look at the end of its life. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an ...