Why autonomous reactors are key to powering human life on Mars
Sending humans to Mars will require reliable energy systems that can work without constant human attention.
One of the most promising options is nuclear power,...
A star is devouring its twin in a cosmic feeding frenzy
Astronomers have discovered a star system unlike anything seen before: a greedy white dwarf star is feasting on its much larger stellar companion at...
The messy habits of small black holes
The best opportunity to study black holes is when they're actively accreting matter.
During these times, matter gathers in an accretion disk around the black...
Mars has a solid core, solving a planetary mystery
For decades, scientists have puzzled over the deep interior of Mars.
Did it resemble Earth, with a solid center wrapped in a liquid outer core,...
A new shape for telescopes could help us find “Earth 2.0”
For all we know, Earth is the only place in the universe that hosts life.
Every living thing here depends on liquid water, which provides...
Astronomers detect protostellar jets in the Milky Way’s outskirts
Astronomers have made a remarkable discovery that sheds new light on how stars are born.
Using the powerful Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile,...
Astronomers discover strange disk around Fomalhaut that hints at hidden planets
brightest stars near Earth, and what they found is rewriting the story of this fascinating system.
Using the powerful Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in...
Solar flares found to be far hotter than we ever imagined
For decades, scientists have known that solar flares—huge bursts of energy from the sun’s outer atmosphere—can reach astonishing temperatures of more than 10 million...
Webb Telescope spots warm space dust escaping a distant galaxy
In a far-off galaxy named Makani—Hawaiian for “wind”—astronomers have spotted something remarkable.
Tiny dust particles, heated by the light of newborn stars, were carried out...
Early-universe stars likely formed in pairs, study finds
Astronomers have long known that many of the largest stars in our Milky Way do not live alone but instead exist in pairs.
Now, an...