Space & Future
Scientists find possible boiling oceans hidden beneath icy moons
Out in the cold, distant reaches of our solar system, many moons are wrapped in thick layers of ice.
At first glance, these worlds look...
Cosmic dust could help create life in space
Scientists have discovered that tiny particles of cosmic dust may play a much more important role in creating the building blocks of life than...
Why Earth has moving plates and Venus doesn’t
Scientists have taken an important step toward solving one of the biggest mysteries in planetary science: why Earth is covered in moving tectonic plates,...
Maybe Mars isn’t hiding liquid water under its south pole after all
For years, scientists have been intrigued by a mysterious signal coming from the icy south pole of Mars.
In 2018, a radar instrument called MARSIS,...
Earth and Theia were neighbors before they collided
According to the leading theory of how the Earth-Moon system formed (the Giant Impact Hypothesis), a Mars-sized object (named Theia) collided with a proto-Earth...
Scientists trace the moon’s birth to Earth’s nearby planetary twin
Around 4.5 billion years ago, a dramatic event changed Earth forever.
A massive, planet-sized body called Theia slammed into the young Earth in a violent...
Scientists recreate 100 billion stars in a virtual Milky Way for the first time
Scientists have achieved something that once seemed nearly impossible: they have created the first computer simulation of the Milky Way that represents more than...
Yes, the universe can expand faster than light
An expanding universe complicates this picture just a little bit, because the universe absolutely refuses to be straightforward.
Objects are still emitting light, and that...
Scientists discover what really powers Venus’s wild, planet-encircling winds
Imagine storms fiercer than the strongest hurricanes on Earth, blowing nonstop all the way around an entire planet.
This is exactly what happens on Venus,...
Astronomers spot first stars billions of years after they were supposed to die
Over the course of billions of years, the universe has steadily been evolving.
Thanks to the expansion of the universe, we are able to “see”...
Hunting for wandering black holes in dwarf galaxies
Tracking down black holes at the center of dwarf galaxies has proven difficult.
In part that is because they have a tendency to “wander” and...
How dark energy changed cosmology forever
Let’s rewind the clock back…oh, I don’t know, let’s say a hundred years. It was 1917, and Einstein had just developed his general theory...
Deep Space
Bennu asteroid contains clues to our solar system’s origins
Scientists have made an exciting discovery about the near-Earth asteroid Bennu: it contains the original ingredients that formed our solar system.
The findings come from...
Jupiter’s moons could be warming each other
Jupiter's moons are hot.
Well, hotter than they should be, for being so far from the sun.
In a process called tidal heating, gravitational tugs from...
How to track hidden comets that could threaten earth
How do you spot a dangerous comet that hasn’t been near Earth for more than 200 years?
By following its "footprints"—the meteor showers it leaves...
Missions to Mars with the Starship could only take three months
Mars has received considerable attention in the past few decades, thanks to the many robotic missions exploring it to learn more about its past.
NASA...
How much ‘stuff’ is in the universe? scientists say 31%
Matter—like stars, planets, and everything on Earth—makes up about 31% of everything that exists in the universe.