That's the newest estimate, thanks to rocks and soil collected by the Apollo 14 moonwalkers in 1971
For around six months the Boom Star will be one of the brightest in the sky before gradually dimming.
The star was likely not a star at all but a rare, once-in-several-millennia alignment of planets that would have grabbed the attention of the magi, and signified that a momentous birth had occurred
It won’t be as big and bright again for another 18 years, according to sky watchers
Fellow academics are intrigued enough by the research to study the findings more closely, but are saying it’s too early to make definite claims
Even some astronomers, meticulous by profession, were not afraid to float the a-word: Could the dimming, however unlikely, be signs of alien life?
Uranus, surely the most frequently disrespected planet in our solar system, may host a pair of tiny hidden moons
There may be 2 trillion galaxies in the observable universe. 'It boggles the mind that over 90 per cent of the galaxies in the cosmos have yet to be studied'
It's like a blue moon or a Harvest moon, except witchier
The telescope cost US$184 million; to ensure the project remains undisturbed, the government is moving more than 9,000 people