Space & Future

Astronomers discover planets with tilted orbits and bizarre timing

A surprising new discovery has come from a fresh look at data from NASA’s retired Kepler Space Telescope. Astronomers have found that the KOI-134 system,...

High-speed gas clouds fuel star formation in depleted galaxies

Galaxies have an overall internal motion called disk velocity. It's how gas, dust, and stars move around the galactic center. It's not a single value...

In the search for Earth-like worlds, we should probably focus on red dwarfs

When astronomers first discovered exoplanets, they found massive ones orbiting large stars. The technology to detect smaller planets around low-mass, dim red dwarfs took time...

Scientists discover missing matter in the universe

The vast majority of matter in the universe is dark—it is entirely invisible and detected only through its gravitational effects. Ordinary matter—everything from protons to...

How a pizza-sized robot and VR could change lunar missions

Someday, robots might crawl across the moon helping astronauts build science labs and even future homes—and some of the early work to make that...

Scientists capture the universe in motion

After years of preparation, U.K. astronomers are celebrating a major milestone as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory reveals its first dazzling images of the...

The space metal that shrinks with heat and helps us find new worlds

NASA is getting closer to building the powerful telescopes needed to find Earth-like planets beyond our solar system, thanks to a surprising new material...

A new twist in string theory could solve a cosmic mystery

For decades, string theory has promised to be the ultimate explanation for how our universe works. In this theory, all matter and forces are made...

Webb Telescope reveals hidden secrets of bullet cluster and dark matter

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has taken a closer look at the famous Bullet Cluster—a giant space collision between two galaxy clusters—and revealed new...

A spacecraft carrying human remains and cannabis crashes into the ocean

We've sent some pretty interesting payloads to space since the first satellite (Sputnik 1) launched on October 4th, 1957. As access to space has increased,...

The oceans on Enceladus are highly alkaline

What can the pH level of the subsurface ocean on Enceladus tell us about finding life there? This is what a recent study accepted to...

GJ 12 b: Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting a quiet M dwarf star

What can Earth-sized exoplanets teach scientists about the formation and evolution of exoplanets throughout the cosmos? This is what a recently submitted study hopes to...

Deep Space

Scientists discover how magnesium oxide shapes super-earths

Scientists have made an exciting discovery about magnesium oxide, a key mineral found in the Earth's mantle, which could also play a crucial role...

Astronomers discover an unusual star with two spiral arms

Astronomers using the ALMA Observatory have discovered an unusual, massive star near the center of our galaxy, a star that has two spiral arms. The...

Astronomers discover the closest black hole to Earth

Astronomers have discovered the closest black hole to Earth, the first unambiguous detection of a dormant stellar-mass black hole in the Milky Way. Its close...

Scientists reveal an Earth-like alien world on Saturn’s moon Titan

Saturn's moon Titan looks very much like Earth from space, with rivers, lakes, and seas filled by rain tumbling through a thick atmosphere. While these...

Exoplanet axis study boosts hopes of complex life, just not next door

Astrophysicists at the Georgia Institute of Technology modeled a theoretical twin of Earth into other star systems called binary systems because they have two...