Space & Future
Is extracting oxygen from lunar soil the future of space exploration
A new race to the moon is emerging between the United States and China.
Unlike fifty years ago, the goal is no longer just about...
Everything we thought we knew about dark energy could be wrong
For nearly 30 years, scientists have believed that a mysterious force called dark energy is causing the universe to expand faster and faster.
But a...
The Sun is changing and we don’t know why
Put your ear to the ground in the right place and you can hear a train coming from miles away.
Long before it appears on...
How Giant Galaxies Burned Bright and Died Young In the Early Universe
One of the biggest mysteries in astronomy is why some of the largest galaxies in the early universe stopped making stars surprisingly early in...
Red Dwarf Stars Caught Devouring Earth-Like Planets
Astronomers have discovered some of the clearest evidence yet that stars can consume their own planets.
In a new study published in the journal Monthly...
Something just passed between us and a distant star
On the night of 18 December 2019, a star in our satellite galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, briefly got brighter.
Not dramatically nor explosively, just...
Ancient “Cosmic Cities” Were Already Shaping Galaxies Soon After the Big Bang
Astronomers have discovered that galaxies were already being shaped by their surroundings just 1.2 billion years after the Big Bang, much earlier than scientists...
Black Hole “Gold Rush” Reveals Hundreds of Hidden Cosmic Collisions
Astronomers have unveiled the largest collection yet of gravitational wave detections, marking a major leap forward in our understanding of black holes and the...
The Sun just did something nobody expected and it kept going for 19 days
The Sun is not known for being quiet!
It blasts out energy equivalent to 100 billion nuclear bombs every single second, routinely hurls billion tonne...
Ancient Region Near Jupiter May Have Created Six Types of Meteorites
Scientists have discovered that a region just outside Jupiter’s orbit may have acted like a giant “planet factory” in the early solar system, producing...
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...
Deep Space
Scientists discover an exoplanet atmosphere never seen before
New observations of WASP-39 b reveal a never-before-seen molecule in the atmosphere of a planet — sulfur dioxide — among other details.
The inner and outer Milky Way aren’t the same thickness, and that’s surprising
At first glance, the universe and night sky seem largely unchanging.
The reality is very different, even now, a gas cloud is charging toward the...
You’re made of carbon that took a journey into intergalactic space
I’ve used this fact a gazillion times; every atom in your body has been through the core of a star!
The carbon in our bones...
Scientists measure neutron’s lifetime from space for the first time
Scientists have found a way of measuring neutron lifetime from space for the first time - a discovery that could teach us more about...
Scientists show true colors of evolving galactic beasts
Astronomers have identified a rare moment in the life of some of the universe's most energetic objects.
Quasars were first observed 60 years ago, but...