Scientists pin down timing of lunar dynamo’s demise
A conventional compass would be of little use on the moon, which today lacks a global magnetic field.
But the moon did produce a magnetic...
Research sheds light on the Moon’s dark craters
The next wave of robots to fly to Mars in 2020 could offer scientists an unprecedented understanding of Earth’s closest neighboring planet.
But there are...
Scientists find path to ‘new blue’ in meteorite minerals
An Oregon State University scientist who made history a decade ago with the accidental discovery of the first new blue inorganic pigment in more...
Meteorites lend clues to solar system’s origin
The isotopic composition of meteorites and terrestrial planets holds important clues about the earliest history of the solar system and the processes of planet...
Our solar system may have captured alien comets
According to the most popular theory, proposed by Dutch astronomer Jan Oort, during a very early phase of the solar system’s formation, the giant...
Exoplanets in habitable zones may not host life due to stars’ flares
The discovery of terrestrial exoplanets, planets that orbit stars outside the solar system, has been one of the most significant developments in modern astronomy.
Several...
Mercury’s volcanic activity could help us find other earth-like exoplanets
If you wanted to narrow down the search for Earth-like worlds in a vast universe, how might you go about it?
According to Paul Byrne,...
Why some planets eat their own skies
For many years, for all we knew, our solar system was alone in the universe.
Then better telescopes began to reveal a treasure trove of...
Scientists find giant magnetic ropes in Whale Galaxy’s halo
Using the National Science Foundation's Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array radio telescope, astronomers have captured for the first time an image of large-scale,...
Black hole outburst provides new insight into galaxy cluster evolution
Billions of years ago, in the center of a galaxy cluster far, far away (15 billion light-years, to be exact), a black hole spewed...