Space & Future
Webb Telescope spots rare five-galaxy merger just 800 million years after the big bang
Astronomers have spotted an unexpected and dramatic event in the early universe: a tightly packed collision involving at least five galaxies just 800 million...
Why planets with two suns almost never survive
Planets with two suns, like the famous desert world Tatooine from Star Wars, capture our imagination.
Yet in real life, these so-called circumbinary planets—planets that...
The universe’s first matter really was a soup—and scientists can now see it slosh
In the very first moments after the Big Bang, the universe looked nothing like it does today.
Instead of stars, atoms, or even protons, everything...
NASA rover finds 3.5-billion-year-old Martian shoreline in Jezero crater
Scientists exploring Mars have uncovered strong new evidence that the Red Planet once had wave-washed beaches and long-lasting water activity, making it an even...
For the first time, scientists detect molecule critical to life in interstellar space
The chemical is known as thiepine, or 2,5-cyclohexadiene-1-thione (C₆H₆S), a ring-shaped sulfur-bearing hydrocarbon produced in biochemical reactions.
When examining the molecular cloud G+0.693–0.027, a star-forming...
A new cosmic map reveals how dark matter built the universe we live in
Scientists have created the most detailed map yet of dark matter—the mysterious substance that makes up most of the universe and quietly shapes everything...
A hidden dark matter sheet may be steering our cosmic neighborhood
Astronomers may have solved a long-standing mystery about how galaxies near the Milky Way move through space.
New computer simulations suggest that our galaxy is...
Perseverance Rover discovers an ancient Martian beach, complete with waves
When the rover now named Perseverance landed in Jezero crater in early 2021, scientists already knew they had picked an interesting place to scope...
Scientists discover the largest sulfur molecule ever found in space
Astronomers have discovered the largest sulfur-containing molecule ever seen in space, offering new clues about how the chemical ingredients of life may form long...
How baby black holes became giants in the early universe
One of astronomy’s biggest mysteries has long puzzled scientists: how did black holes grow so enormous so quickly after the universe was born?
New research...
A star went dark for 9 months—scientists now know why
Astronomers have discovered a vast cloud filled with vaporized metals and powerful winds orbiting a mysterious object far from its host star.
The finding offers...
How tiny Mars helps set Earth’s ice ages
Mars is only about half the size of Earth and has just one-tenth of our planet’s mass.
Compared with giants like Jupiter, it seems far...
Deep Space
Scientists find a new type of star dust in Allende meteorite
Scientists have discovered a new type of star dust whose composition indicates that it formed during a rare form of nucleosynthesis (the process through...
Galaxies were different in the early universe, finds study
The earliest stars, which may have formed around 200 million years after the Big Bang, contained few other elements than hydrogen and helium.
Two solar mysteries linked to the coronal rain
Coronal rain is giant globs of plasma that drip from the Sun's outer atmosphere back to its surface.
Previous research using computer simulations has predicted...
Can we launch a spacecraft to a black hole? This scientist says yes
It might sound like something out of science fiction: a tiny spacecraft, no heavier than a paperclip, launched from Earth and traveling at a...
This black hole crackles and flares violently
An international team of astronomers, led by the University of Southampton, have used state-of-the-art cameras to create a high frame-rate movie of a growing...