Space & Future
Webb Telescope peers into Uranus’s mysterious upper atmosphere
For the first time, scientists have created a detailed map of the upper atmosphere of Uranus, revealing how temperature and electrically charged particles change...
Why so many space rocks look like snowmen
Far beyond Neptune, at the cold edge of our solar system, millions of icy objects drift quietly in a region called the Kuiper Belt.
These...
NASA’s Hubble finds a ghost galaxy made almost entirely of dark matter
Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have discovered an extremely faint galaxy that may be made almost entirely of dark matter, the mysterious substance...
Astronomers get to the heart of Mira A’s latest outburst
Just a few hundred light-years from Earth, the famous variable star Mira A is huffing and puffing its outer layers to space. Its most...
The moon is still shrinking: New study reveals recent tectonic activity
For a long time, people imagined the moon as a quiet, frozen world where nothing much happens anymore.
But new research shows that the moon...
A cosmic jellyfish from the early universe surprises astronomers
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have discovered the most distant “jellyfish galaxy” ever seen, offering a rare glimpse into how galaxies changed...
Utah’s “soda pop” geysers may hold clues to life on distant ocean worlds
In the dry desert of eastern Utah, strange geysers shoot cold, fizzy water into the air.
Instead of boiling like the famous hot geysers in...
If aliens already called, why didn’t we hear?
For more than 60 years, scientists have been scanning the skies for signs of intelligent life beyond Earth.
Using powerful telescopes, they have searched for...
Scientists make a game-changing find in the Bennu asteroid
In 2023, NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission delivered samples of the 4.6-billion-year-old asteroid Bennu to Earth.
Upon examining them, scientists discovered that the asteroid - which existed...
James Webb Telescope detects rotten-egg gas on alien worlds for the first time
Astronomers have detected a smelly gas best known for the odor of rotten eggs—hydrogen sulfide—in the atmospheres of four giant planets far beyond our...
How a rare element could fuel the next generation of space missions
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) are taking a fresh look at neptunium, a rare radioactive metal that...
Scientists finally solve the mystery of how the most common planets form
Astronomers have finally figured out how the most common types of planets in our galaxy are formed—by watching a set of baby planets grow...
Deep Space
Asteroid mining is a trillion-dollar space opportunity, shows study
A new opportunity for the future of space exploration and industry has emerged: asteroid mining.
While astronomers recently discovered a 33-foot-long asteroid called 2024 PT5,...
Ice deposits on Ceres might only be a few thousand years old
The dwarf planet Ceres has some permanently dark craters that hold ice.
Astronomers thought the ice was ancient when they were discovered, like in the...
How AI is transforming space exploration
Space exploration has always been about pushing boundaries, venturing into the unknown, and discovering the secrets of the universe.
Today, artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming...
Scientists discover Milky Way galaxy’s graveyard of dead stars
In the first map of the 'galactic underworld', a new study has revealed a graveyard that stretches three times the height of the Milky...
Meteorites help scientists figure out how solar system formed
Ever since scientists started looking at meteorites with microscopes, they’ve been puzzled—and fascinated—by what’s inside.
Most meteorites are made of tiny beads of glass that...