Why a faraway star nearly disappeared for eight months
Astronomers often watch stars fade away as they reach the end of their lives, but one star in our galaxy gave scientists an unusual...
Asteroid Bennu holds 4.5-billion-year-old secrets of our Solar System
Asteroid Bennu, the focus of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission, has turned out to be far more than just a space rock.
Samples recently brought back to...
What is the Moon made of (hint it’s not cheese)
A set of instruments shut off almost 50 years ago are still producing useful results.
It’s the seismometers left by the Apollo missions to monitor...
Could dark matter turn giant planets into black holes?
Astronomers have discovered more than 5,000 planets orbiting stars beyond our solar system, known as exoplanets.
These worlds are already changing how scientists think about...
Black holes may be powering the universe’s dark energy
For decades, scientists have puzzled over dark energy—the mysterious force causing the universe to expand faster and faster.
Now, researchers from Durham University, the University...
What happened before the Big Bang?
“What happened before the Big Bang?”
It’s a question that has fascinated people for generations—and one that many scientists have often dismissed as meaningless.
The standard...
Apollo 17 moon rock opened after 50 years reveals mysterious lunar landslide
More than half a century after astronauts last set foot on the moon, the Apollo program is still offering up surprises.
A sample of lunar...
Webb Telescope discovers a brand-new moon orbiting Uranus
The James Webb Space Telescope has just made a remarkable discovery: a brand-new moon orbiting Uranus.
This tiny object, only about six miles (10 kilometers)...
Astronomers discover rare four-star system just 82 light-years away
Astronomers have made an extraordinary discovery that could change the way we understand some of the most puzzling objects in the universe: brown dwarfs.
These...
NASA’s new printable metal can survive extreme space temperatures
Building rocket engines that can withstand the brutal heat of spaceflight has always been a major challenge.
Traditional 3D printing has made it easier to...