Astronomers analyzing Gaia and TESS data have discovered that the famed Pleiades is only the bright center of a much larger stellar complex containing over 3,000 stars. Spanning 2,000 light-years, this vast family reveals how young clusters form, travel, and disperse across the galaxy.

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope have captured a rare early look at supernova SN 2024ggi, just one day after its discovery. The blast shockwave appeared olive-shaped—not spherical—revealing surprising asymmetry in the explosion. Recorded with the FORS2 instrument, the data shows the shock-breakout phase in unprecedented detail. The discovery challeng...