News & articles

Astronomers famously snapped the first ever direct image of a black hole in 2019, thanks to material glowing in its presence. But many black holes are actually near impossible to detect. Now another team using the Hubble Space Telescope seems to have finally found something nobody has seen before: a black hole which is completely invisible.

The UK Space Agency (UKSA) has awarded OU space researchers close to £175,000 to develop a one of a kind construction method that could one day enable us to build on the Moon from lunar soil.

Research has shown that the Earth trails an asteroid barely a kilometre across in its orbit about the Sun – only the second such body to have ever been spotted.

The Open University (OU) is one of 10 organisations to be given a boost from UK Space Agency (UKSA) regional funding announced on Wednesday 2 February 2022.

An OU researcher is part of a team which has discovered 100-million-year-old fossil flowers preserved in fossil amber, more commonly known as tree resin.

It’s not often that the sudden appearance of a new impact crater on the Moon can be predicted, but it’s going to happen on March 4, when a derelict SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will crash into it.

An OU academic who led a research project to stop the spread of malaria is now co-leading one which will monitor the potential extent of flooding globally.

The fossilised remains of a gigantic ichthyosaur, colloquially known as a “sea dragon”, were recently uncovered at the Rutland Water Nature Reserve in the UK. 

John Domingue explains how to foster a culture of openness and support that encourages and helps staff teams to pursue interdisciplinary research projects.

We now know of almost 5,000 planets outside the Solar System. If you were to picture what it would be like on one of these distant worlds, or exoplanets, your mental image would probably include a parent star – or more than one, especially if you’re a Star Wars fan.