Space & Future
Mars Has Its Own Tiny Aurora Engine—And It Works Surprisingly Like Earth’s
Mars may not have a strong global magnetic field like Earth, but scientists have discovered that it still creates glowing auroras using a surprisingly...
Europa’s Hidden Ocean May Be Harder To Reach Than We Expected
Europa, one of Jupiter's largest moons, has fascinated scientists for decades because it may hide a vast ocean of liquid water beneath its thick...
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...
Deep Space
Astronomers discover first cloudless, Jupiter-like exoplanet
Astronomers at the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard & Smithsonian have detected the first Jupiter-like planet without clouds or haze in its observable atmosphere.
The...
Galaxy mergers in the early universe could limit star formation
Astronomers have looked nine billion years into the past to find evidence that galaxy mergers in the early universe could shut down star formation...
Scientists find a hot, dense exoplanet with eight-hour year
In a new study, published in Nature, the researchers show that the planet, which is 31 light years from Earth, is one of the...
Habitable worlds are found in safe places
When we think of exoplanets that may be able to support life, we hone in on the habitable zone.
A habitable zone is a region...
Ancient gas cloud shows that the first stars must have formed very quickly
Astronomers found a pristine gas cloud in the proximity of one of the most distant quasars known, seen just 850 million after the Big...