A giant meteorite impact 3.26 billion years ago helped push life forward
The Earth has always been bombarded with rocks from space. It’s true to say though that there were more rocks flying around the Solar...
Are we alone? New model explores the odds of intelligent life in the universe
Astrophysicists from Durham University have developed a new model to estimate the likelihood of intelligent life forming in our universe—and even in hypothetical universes...
Astronomers discover ultra-dense ‘super-Earth’ that’s as heavy as lead
An international team of scientists has found a fascinating new planetary system around a star similar to our sun.
The system, located about 750 light-years...
A new look at the most ancient light in the universe
In the earliest moments of the Universe, the first photons were trapped in a sea of ionized gas.
They scattered randomly with the hot nuclei...
Astronomers map the shape of a black hole’s corona for the first time
If you were lucky enough to observe a total eclipse, you are certain to remember the halo of brilliant light around the Moon during...
Discovery of three ‘red monster’ galaxies challenges ideas about the early universe
An international team of scientists led by the University of Geneva has discovered three ultra-massive galaxies that formed just a billion years after the...
Ancient meteorite reveals evidence of liquid water on Mars 742 million years ago
A team of scientists has found evidence of liquid water on Mars from 742 million years ago in a Martian meteorite known as the...
Early black holes fed 40x faster than should be possible
The theory goes that black holes accrete material, often from nearby stars.
However the theory also suggests there is a limit to how big a...
A spider stellar engine could move binary stars halfway across a galaxy
Eventually, every stellar civilization will have to migrate to a different star. The habitable zone around all stars changes as they age.
If long-lived technological...
How did supermassive black holes get so big, so early
Supermassive Black Holes (SMBHs) can have billions of solar masses, and observational evidence suggests that all large galaxies have one at their centres.
However, the...