A black hole has cleared out its neighborhood
We can’t see them directly, but we know they’re there. Supermassive black holes (SMBHs) likely dwell at the center of every large galaxy.
Their overwhelming...
Making space travel sustainable: a new approach to mining on the moon and Mars
Scientists are taking important steps towards a future where astronauts can extract essential materials directly from the dust of the moon and Mars.
This breakthrough...
Astronomers measure the mass of Milky Way by calculating how hard it is to...
If you want to determine your mass, it’s pretty easy. Just step on a scale and look at the number it gives you.
That number...
Some young planets are flattened smarties, not spheres.
One of contemporary astronomy’s most pressing questions concerns planet formation.
We can see more deeply than ever into very young solar systems where planets are...
NASA is one step closer to deploying fission reactors on the Moon
What’s the most important thing you need to live and work on the Moon?
Power. For NASA’s upcoming Artemis program, getting power to lunar bases...
Orbital resonance − the striking gravitational dance done by planets with aligning orbits
Planets orbit their parent stars while separated by enormous distances – in our solar system, planets are like grains of sand in a region...
Scientists find galaxy that shouldn’t exist
In a universe filled with stars and galaxies, a team of space scientists led by Tim Carleton from Arizona State University has stumbled upon...
How could laser-driven lightsails remain stable
It’s a long way to the nearest star, which means conventional rockets won’t get us there. The fuel requirements would make our ship prohibitively...
How dangerous are Kilonovae?
When we look up at the sky on a particularly dark night, there is a sense of timelessness.
We might see the flash of a...
Atmospheres in the TRAPPIST-1 system should be long gone
Trappist-1 is a fascinating exoplanetary system. Seven worlds orbiting a red dwarf star just 40 light-years away.
All of the worlds are similar to Earth...