Salt deposits on Mars hold clues to sources of ancient water
For centuries, miners have burrowed into the earth in search of salt—laid down in thick layers from ancient oceans long since evaporated.
When scientists saw...
Scientists discover a giant planet around 2,800 times the mass of earth
Astronomers have discovered a new planet around a nearby star that is nine times the mass of Jupiter and more than 2,800 times the...
30 years ago: NASA’s Voyager 2 made a historic Neptune flyby
Thirty years ago, on Aug. 25, 1989, NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft made a close flyby of Neptune, giving humanity its first close-up of our...
Storms on Jupiter are disturbing the planet’s colorful belts
Storm clouds rooted deep in Jupiter's atmosphere are affecting the planet's white zones and colorful belts, creating disturbances in their flow and even changing...
NASA gets a rare look at a rocky exoplanet’s surface
A new study using data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope provides a rare glimpse of conditions on the surface of a rocky planet orbiting...
Scientists discover another giant planet in the Beta Pictoris system
Astronomers have discovered a second giant planet in orbit around β Pictoris, a star that is relatively young (23 million years old) and close...
Scientists detect a black hole swallowing a neutron star
Scientists, including from Australian National University (ANU), say they have detected a black hole swallowing a neutron star for the first time.
Neutron stars and...
Glitch in neutron star reveals its hidden secrets
Neutron stars are not only the densest objects in the Universe, but they also rotate very fast and regularly.
Until they suddenly don’t.
The “glitch” happens...
Young Jupiter was smacked head-on by massive planet
Jupiter's core may still be reeling from collision 4.5 billion years ago.
A colossal, head-on collision between Jupiter and a still-forming planet in the early...
How many Earth-like planets are around sun-like stars?
A new study provides the most accurate estimate of the frequency that planets that are similar to Earth in size and in distance from...