Space & Future
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...
When a black hole ate a super-sized star: Inside the violent “whippet” explosion
Astronomers have witnessed an extraordinary cosmic catastrophe: a black hole tearing apart a massive star and devouring it piece by piece.
The dramatic event, nicknamed...
Why the carbon in your body and the oxygen you breathe came from ancient...
Where did the carbon in our bodies and the oxygen we breathe come from?
Astronomers have been asking this question for decades, and a new...
What Jupiter’s swirls and Saturn’s hexagon reveal about the planets’ hidden interiors
For years, spacecraft images have shown that the poles of Jupiter and Saturn are anything but calm. Each planet hosts giant atmospheric whirlpools called...
Astronomers discover a ‘dead’ galaxy that was choked by its own black hole
Astronomers have discovered one of the oldest “dead” galaxies ever seen—and its story is not one of sudden destruction, but of slow starvation.
Using the...
Enceladus plumes may hold a clear clue to ocean habitability
How can scientists estimate the pH level of Enceladus’ subsurface ocean without landing on its surface?
This is what a recently submitted study hopes to...
Astronomers solve the mystery of the universe’s “little red dots”
Ever since the James Webb Space Telescope began sending back its first breathtaking images in late 2021, astronomers have been fascinated—and confused—by strange red...
Jupiter’s stormy clouds hide an oxygen-rich world below
Jupiter may look like a swirling ball of colorful clouds, but beneath that dramatic surface lies a world scientists have struggled to understand for...
Astronomers catch a black hole erupting after 100 million years
Astronomers have captured one of the clearest views yet of a supermassive black hole coming back to life after an extraordinarily long period of...
Deep Space
Chinese astronauts just repaired space debris damage outside the station
A pair of Chinese taikonauts have completed an eight-hour spacewalk repairing damage to the Tiangong Chinese Space Station’s solar panels.
It’s believed the damage was...
Astronomers accidentally discover hidden radiation around a supermassive black hole
Astronomers have made an extraordinary discovery by accident: they found millimeter radiation being produced right near the heart of a supermassive black hole.
This breakthrough,...
What if you could hear space?
A new project turns astronomical images from the Chandra X-ray Observatory—operated for NASA by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory—and other telescopes into sound.
When you see...
Uranus’s wobbling moons could point to oceans under the ice
Subsurface oceans of liquid water are a common feature of the moon’s of Jupiter and Saturn.
Researchers are exploring whether the icy moons of Uranus...
Could ‘terminator zones’ on far off planets harbor life?
Extraterrestrial life has the potential to exist on distant exoplanets inside special areas called “terminator zones”.