Mars could become a base for asteroid exploration and mining
Mining the asteroids for resources like iron, precious metals, water, or other valuable species may someday become profitable.
Mining will probably starting with Near Earth...
Astronomers watched a “near-sun” comet disintegrate as it flew too close to the sun
Comets that venture close to the Sun can transform into something beautiful, but sometimes they encounter incineration if they get too close.
Of the various...
Early galaxies may be bigger and more complex than we thought
Scientists using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) have observed a significant amount of cold, neutral gas in the outer regions of the young...
Dying stars could seed interstellar medium with carbon nanotubes
The findings propose a simple, yet elegant mechanism for the formation and survival of complex carbon molecules in space.
In the mid-1980s, the discovery of...
Astronomers detect a violent dead star eating its planetary system
The violent death throes of a nearby star so thoroughly disrupted its planetary system that the dead star left behind — known as a...
Mysterious ‘blue blobs’ reveal a new kind of star system
Astronomers have identified five examples of a new class of stellar system. They're not quite galaxies and only exist in isolation.
The new stellar systems...
Watch the death of this rare giant star
Located about 3,009 light-years from Earth, VY Canis Majoris is possibly the most massive star in the Milky Way.
A University of Arizona-led team of...
Scientists find the fastest-growing black hole in the past nine billion years
The fastest-growing black hole of the last nine billion years has been discovered by an international team led by astronomers at The Australian National...
This weird star produced the fastest nova on record
Astronomers are buzzing after observing the fastest nova ever recorded.
The unusual event drew scientists’ attention to an even more unusual star.
As they study it,...
Asteroid Psyche maps reveal an ancient world of metal and rock
Later this year, NASA is set to launch a probe the size of a tennis court to the asteroid belt, a region between the...