‘Bathtub rings’ around Titan’s lakes might be made of alien crystals
The frigid lakeshores of Saturn's moon Titan might be encrusted with strange, unearthly minerals, according to a new study.
Scientists have discovered new compounds and...
Scientists use X-rays from faraway galaxy cluster to reveal secrets of plasma
Most visible matter in the universe doesn’t look like our textbook picture of a nucleus surrounded by tethered electrons.
Out beyond our borders, inside massive...
This black hole is 40 times smaller than we thought
A black hole at the center of a nearby dwarf galaxy, called NGC 4395, is about 40 times smaller than previously thought, report researchers.
If...
300 stars show our solar system may be special
Our solar system may have rare qualities that could possibly be related to the habitability of Earth.
Over the past four years, an instrument attached...
Astronomers see ‘warm’ glow of Uranus’s rings
The rings of Uranus are invisible to all but the largest telescopes -- they weren't even discovered until 1977 -- but they're surprisingly bright...
Scientists capture first polarized radio signals from distant cosmic explosion
An international team of astronomers has captured the first-ever polarized radio waves from a distant cosmic explosion.
This explosive event (known as gamma-ray burst GRB...
Engineers boost output of solar desalination system by 50% with inexpensive method
Rice University's solar-powered approach for purifying saltwater with sunlight and nanoparticles is even more efficient than its creators first believed.
Researchers in Rice's Laboratory for...
How did Mars get its clouds? Add meteors, say scientists
Scientists have observed clouds in Mars' middle atmosphere, beginning about 18 miles above the planet's surface, but can't explain how they form.
A new study...
Scientists find sun’s history buried in moon’s crust
The Sun is why we're here. It's also why Martians or Venusians are not.
When the Sun was just a baby four billion years ago,...
Flyby of Saturn’s C ring triggers more questions than answers
Instead of uncovering scientific answers, the spectral images from a Cassini flyby of Saturn’s rings triggered more questions than answers.
As NASA’s Cassini spacecraft threaded...