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Shreejaya Karantha

Shreejaya Karantha

Author

Shreejaya Karantha is a science writer and astronomy communicator based in Udupi, India. Curious about the universe and everything in it, she holds an MSc in Physics with a specialisation in astrophysics. Her work has appeared in Live Science, Sky & Telescope, and The Hindu newspaper. She works with The Secrets of the Universe as a research specialist. She enjoys writing about black holes, galaxies, and the early universe with a particular soft spot for little red dots and anything gloriously weird in space.

Articles by Shreejaya Karantha

Phys.org / ALMA spots 'dragon egg' that may represent the earliest stages of massive star formation

Astronomers identified an exceptionally tiny core that may represent an early stage in the formation of a massive star. Located in an infrared-dark area called Dragon Cloud, the core is nicknamed the "dragon egg." The paper, ...

1 hour ago
Phys.org / Are 'mega-Earths' real? Stellar activity may explain these oversized rocky worlds

A new study suggests that some of the heaviest rocky planets ever reported may not be as heavy as they look. These so-called 'mega-Earths,' rocky planets weighing more than about 10 Earths, could be an illusion created by ...

Oct 22, 2026
Phys.org / Lone, starless cloud may be a 'dark' galaxy

Astronomers using China's FAST radio telescope have discovered a compact cloud of hydrogen with no visible stars or galaxy around it. This could be one of the strongest candidates yet for an isolated "dark galaxy," containing ...

Oct 17, 2026
Phys.org / Shredded star reveals a massive black hole wandering far from its galaxy's center

Astronomers have discovered a star being torn apart by a massive black hole more than 1,000 parsecs from the center of its host galaxy. The tidal disruption event, TDE 2023mfm, was first discovered by ZTF and then studied ...

Oct 16, 2026
Phys.org / New evidence points to two feeding black holes just 175 parsecs apart lurking in the early universe

Astronomers have found two actively feeding supermassive black holes separated by just 175 parsecs (570 light-years) in a galaxy seen when the universe was only about 2 billion years old. The system, MG B2016+112, lies at ...

Oct 14, 2026
Phys.org / Webb spots possible early-universe supernova just days after it happened

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has detected a possible supernova in the early universe just days after the star exploded. Called AT 2026abck, the transient lies in a star-forming galaxy at a redshift of 5.017 and was ...

Oct 13, 2026
Phys.org / ALMA catches a dying star mid-transformation, with a ring from its last outburst

Astronomers have used radio observations from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to catch a dying star in the middle of a dramatic transformation, and the data show a ring that records its final outburst. ...

Oct 12, 2026
Phys.org / Radio galaxy from 12.5 billion years ago may be most powerful ever found

Astronomers have confirmed a powerful radio galaxy from nearly 12.5 billion years ago. The source, TXS 2354+015, was originally identified as a high-redshift candidate from its characteristic drop in optical light, and follow-up ...

Oct 7, 2026
Phys.org / A gamma-ray burst's engine stayed active for nearly a month, breaking the previous record

Astronomers have observed the longest-lasting central engine activity ever recorded from a gamma-ray burst. The burst occurred at a redshift of 0.8577, and the activity lasted about 27 days in the burst's own rest frame—around ...

Oct 6, 2026
Phys.org / Black holes may grow quietly alongside galaxies even without violent mergers

Astronomers analyzed 2,435 galaxies hosting actively feeding black holes using data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI). Among them, they identified 546 "bulgeless" galaxies—systems with little or no central ...

Oct 2, 2026
Phys.org / Hidden star cluster discovered in Milky Way's crowded disk defies easy classification

Astronomers have discovered a stellar cluster hidden in the crowded disk of the Milky Way. The object, named Garro 04, was first identified as an unusual collection of stars in observations from the VVVX survey and was later ...

Sep 30, 2026
Phys.org / A tiny stellar system may be a 'satellite of a satellite'

Astronomers using data from the Euclid space telescope have discovered an exceptionally faint stellar system near the Fornax dwarf galaxy. Called Fornax-7, it appears to contain only about 170 times the mass of the sun in ...

Sep 28, 2026
Phys.org / Astronomers discover a radio galaxy with evidence of four separate jet outbursts

Astronomers have identified what may be the first example of a new class of radio galaxy, one whose central black hole appears to have launched powerful jets on four separate occasions. High-resolution observations with the ...

Sep 27, 2026
Phys.org / Faint young stars reveal spiral galaxy Messier 74 may be twice as large as thought

Astronomers have discovered a faint population of young stars extending far beyond the known edge of the nearby spiral galaxy Messier 74. The finding suggests the galaxy is nearly twice as large as previously measured. The ...

Sep 24, 2026
Phys.org / Webb measures extreme gas outflows from distant 'dead' galaxies

Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have measured the most powerful gas outflow ever recorded from a "dead" galaxy outside our cosmic neighborhood and found that even outflows this extreme may not be enough to ...

Sep 16, 2026