Space & Future
A Beautiful Death How a Dying Star Created the Crystal Ball Nebula
Planetary nebulae like the Crystal Ball Nebula (NGC 1514) are sort of like stellar obituaries.
Though crystal balls supposedly reveal the future, the Crystal Ball...
Scientists Detect Sand-Like Clouds That Vanish Daily on Alien World
Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have discovered unusual weather patterns on a giant exoplanet nearly 700 light-years away from Earth.
The planet, called...
Webb Telescope finds methane-rich atmosphere on rare Saturn-sized exoplanet
Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have discovered a giant planet with an atmosphere rich in methane, offering scientists a rare look at...
NASA detects powerful gamma rays from a rare “supercharged” supernova
Astronomers have made an exciting discovery that could change how we understand some of the most powerful explosions in the universe.
Using data from NASA’s...
Tiny galaxies around the Milky Way may reveal what the infant universe was really...
Astronomers are turning to some of the smallest galaxies in the universe to answer one of the biggest questions in science: what was the...
Scientists discover a new way to spot alien life by looking for hidden patterns
For many years, scientists searching for life beyond Earth have focused on one main question: what kinds of molecules should they look for on...
Ancient galactic crash may have reshaped the Milky Way 11 billion years ago
The Milky Way may have gone through a violent cosmic collision billions of years ago that dramatically changed the structure of our galaxy, according...
Scientists discover exploding star material hidden in Antarctic Ice
Scientists studying ancient Antarctic ice have discovered new evidence that Earth is currently traveling through a cloud of material left behind by long-dead stars.
An...
Scientists discover strange “toothpaste-like” space effect deep in Mars’s atmosphere
Scientists studying Mars have discovered a surprising atmospheric phenomenon that was previously only known to exist around Earth.
The discovery could change how researchers understand...
Iron and ice: Earth’s passage through the interstellar cloud
Iron-60 is a radioactive isotope of iron that's found in Antarctic ice and in deep-sea crusts.
It's only source is nucleosynthesis in the cataclysmic explosive...
Jupiter’s moon Ganymede may still be building its heart of metal
Jupiter’s moon Ganymede is already famous for being the largest moon in the solar system. At more than 3,200 miles wide, it is even...
Scientists find a new way to listen to the “ringing” of black holes
When two black holes crash into each other, the event is one of the most violent and powerful collisions in the universe.
The two objects...
Deep Space
Comets might have brought water to our planet billions of years ago
The mystery of why Earth has so much water, allowing our "blue marble" to support an astounding array of life, is clearer with new...
Ghost light among galaxies stretches far back in time, finds NASA study
In giant clusters of hundreds or thousands of galaxies, innumerable stars wander among the galaxies like lost souls, emitting a ghostly haze of light.
The Large Magellanic Cloud survived its closest approach to the Milky Way
The Large Magellanic Cloud is a small galaxy, just a tenth of the Milky Way’s mass.
It is about 160,000 light years away, which is...
Ancient dead star still feasting on the remains of its planets
In about 5 billion years, our Sun will run out of hydrogen fuel and collapse into a dense, Earth-sized remnant called a white dwarf.
Though...
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...