Space & Future
Saturn’s icy rings likely formed from lost moon chrysalis
You’re a long-necked Titanosaurs grazing the plains and chomping away on tree leaves about 100 million years ago in the Early Cretaceous in what...
Black holes don’t live forever, but they might live long enough to look like...
Black holes live forever, at least according to general relativity. Once material crosses a black hole's event horizon, it is trapped forever. Until the...
Volunteers help discover thousands of hidden “failed stars” near Earth
A worldwide group of volunteer sky watchers has helped scientists make one of the biggest discoveries of nearby brown dwarfs ever recorded.
Through NASA’s citizen...
How giant black holes shut down star formation
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have discovered powerful winds blasting out of some of the universe’s earliest galaxies, offering new clues about...
Why we need to treat Earth like a spaceship
Four humans recently looped around the moon.
Their vessel, an Artemis capsule, was a thin metal shell whose life-support system kept them alive: it provided...
Astronomers discover how a mini-Neptune survived beside a hot Jupiter
Astronomers using NASA’s powerful James Webb Space Telescope have uncovered new clues about one of the strangest planetary systems ever discovered.
About 190 light years...
Astronomers witness the awesome power of a black hole’s “dancing jets”
Astronomers have long been fascinated by the powerful jets emanating from black holes.
These jets result from gas and dust being pulled into the black...
Scientists explore the surface of a super-Earth 48 light-years away
Astronomers have taken an exciting step forward in understanding planets beyond our solar system by studying not just their atmospheres, but their actual surfaces.
Using...
How can this tiny world have an atmosphere? Scientists are stunned
Far beyond Neptune, in one of the coldest and darkest regions of our solar system, astronomers have discovered something unexpected: a small icy object...
What happens when a star gets too close to a black hole
Supermassive black holes are among the most enigmatic objects in the universe.
They typically weigh millions or even billions of times the mass of the...
Astronomers finally crack the mass mystery of Orion’s hidden young stars
A star’s mass shapes everything about its life, from how bright it shines to how it eventually dies.
Small stars like our Sun burn slowly...
Astronomers discover missing planets around the galaxy’s most common stars
Astronomers have discovered something surprising about planets beyond our solar system.
Even though planets are incredibly common—scientists now estimate there is at least one planet...
Deep Space
A gamma-ray burst disturbed the earth’s ionosphere
You’d think that something happening billions of light-years away wouldn’t affect Earth, right?
Well, in 2002, a burst of gamma rays lasting 800 seconds actually...
Scientists find new ways to unlock the secrets inside planets
Imagine trying to figure out what's inside a wrapped gift without opening it.
That's a bit like what scientists do when they try to understand...
Scientists decode black holes’ chirps
Black holes are among the most fascinating things in the universe. They are strange, thrilling, and can't be avoided.
We can notice the sound they...
The rust that could reveal alien life
Iron rusts.
On Earth, this common chemical reaction often signals the presence of something far more interesting than just corroding metal for example, living microorganisms...
Astronomers find rare slimmer red giant stars for the first time
A new, slimmer type of red giant star has been identified by astronomers, who liken their discovery to 'finding Wally'. Only around 40 of...