Space & Future
Are we missing alien lighthouses
Searching for extraterrestrial intelligence has so far meant primarily focusing on one particular type of signal - and that signal has normally been based...
Spin-reversing comet may face self-destruction
Comets are known for providing breathtaking observations of their long and shiny tails when they travel too close to the Sun.
This happens because comets...
NASA’s Juno discovers hidden heat beneath Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io
NASA's Juno spacecraft has achieved something never done before by measuring temperatures beneath the surface of Jupiter's volcanic moon Io.
The new observations reveal that...
The Milky Way flipped its disk billions of years ago
The Milky Way is ancient, and its first stars formed shortly after the Big Bang. It's been through a lot in its long life,...
Bizarre Jupiter-Mass Exomoon Challenges Everything We Know About Planetary Systems
Astronomers have found what may be the first convincing evidence of a giant "exomoon" beyond our solar system, but the unusual object is already...
The Sun has a ‘switch-off’ moment—and it could help predict space weather years ahead
Scientists have discovered a new way to predict how active the sun's next solar cycle will be years before it reaches its peak.
The research...
Mysterious Little Red Dots may be the birthplaces of the universe’s oldest star clusters
Astronomers may have found an answer to two long-standing mysteries about the universe with a single new idea.
A study led by researchers at The...
Astronomers catch a “dark comet” red-handed
Our ability to track and visualize small rocks in space is still improving. And occasionally we’ll find a space rock that will remind us...
Scientists identify the rare “oddball” space rock that wiped out the dinosaurs
Scientists have uncovered new clues about the giant space rock that slammed into Earth 66 million years ago and triggered one of the biggest...
Astronomers find tiny rocky planets locked in eternal day and night
Astronomers have taken their most detailed look yet at the planetary system orbiting Barnard's Star, one of the Sun's closest stellar neighbors, and the...
Moon’s far side keeps a hidden record of how Earth slows the solar wind
For billions of years, the moon has been constantly bombarded by the solar wind—a stream of charged particles flowing outward from the sun.
Scientists have...
Webb Telescope finds hidden giant planet in one of the galaxy’s best-known star systems
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has uncovered a giant planet that had been hiding in plain sight within one of the most closely studied...
Deep Space
How Jupiter’s moon Io has so splendid dunes
Scientists have long wondered how Jupiter’s innermost moon, Io, has meandering ridges as grand as any that can be seen in movies like “Dune.”
Now,...
Galaxies filled with old stars seen shortly after the big bang
How can young galaxies in the early Universe have ancient stars?
That’s the question a team of astronomers set out to answer using JWST as...
Astronomers find an ultra-hot galaxy cluster from the universe’s infancy
Astronomers have discovered something that challenges long-standing ideas about how the universe evolved: a galaxy cluster filled with extremely hot gas that formed far...
Scientists detect newborn jets in distant galaxies
Astronomers using data from the ongoing VLA Sky Survey (VLASS) have found a number of distant galaxies with supermassive black holes at their cores...
Scientists develop first flat telescope lens that captures color
For centuries, cameras and telescopes have relied on curved glass or plastic lenses to bend light and bring images into focus.
However, the more powerful...