Space & Future
How long do civilizations last
It is one of the most famous questions in science, and it was asked, as legend has it, over lunch.
Enrico Fermi, the physicist who...
Scientists discover cost-saving way to build structures on the moon
Scientists are exploring an exciting idea for future space missions: building structures on the Moon using the Moon’s own soil.
A new study shows that...
Giant dying stars create tiny cosmic dust that could form new planets
A new study shows that some of the largest and most powerful stars in the universe are producing incredibly tiny particles of carbon dust—material...
New method may finally resolve the “Hubble tension” puzzle
Scientists have known for nearly a century that the universe is expanding, with galaxies moving away from each other over time.
The speed of this...
Can Martian soil kill Earth microbes? Water bears reveal surprising clues
Scientists are using one of Earth’s toughest microscopic creatures to explore an important question for future space travel: Could the soil on Mars naturally...
6 million years ago something slammed into modern-day Brazil
Giant impacts on Earth's surface can be cataclysmic events with far-reaching consequences. They can excavate massive craters like the Vredefort Crater.
There's also growing evidence...
Early Mars was warm and wet not icy
A recent study showed that Mars was warm and wet billions of years ago.
The finding contrasts with another theory that this era was mainly...
Moon once had a magnetic field stronger than Earth’s—But only for brief moments
For decades, scientists have debated whether the Moon once had a powerful magnetic field like Earth’s or only a weak one.
Now, a new study...
One of the biggest stars in the universe might be getting ready to explode
One of the largest known stars in the universe underwent a dramatic transformation in 2014, new research shows, and may be preparing to explode.
A...
Stunning new image reveals hidden gas “rivers” at the heart of the Milky Way
Astronomers have captured the most detailed view ever of the center of our Milky Way galaxy, revealing a tangled web of cold gas filaments...
How giant galaxies could form just 1.4 billion years after the Big Bang
When the venerable Hubble Space Telescope made its Deep Fields studies of the early Universe, it discovered something that would puzzle astronomers to this...
Scientists discover Earth-like auroras on Jupiter’s giant moon
Scientists have discovered that the colorful light shows seen above Earth’s poles also occur on Ganymede, Jupiter’s largest moon—and they behave in strikingly similar...
Deep Space
Quasars don’t last long—so how do they get so massive
Quasars represent some of the most luminous and energetic phenomena in the universe.
These distant powerhouses are driven by supermassive black holes—colossal gravitational engines with...
Mars’s northern ice cap is surprisingly young
If you’ve ever looked at Mars through a telescope, you probably noticed its two polar ice caps.
The northern one is made largely of water...
Neutron star mountains: Ripples in space-time
Neutron stars, the dense remains of massive stars that have exploded in supernovae, are some of the most fascinating objects in the universe.
These dead...
Billions of Venus rocks may be on the surface of our Moon — and...
A growing body of research suggests the planet Venus may have had an Earth-like environment billions of years ago, with water and a thin...
ESA’s Gaia sees strange stars in most detailed Milky Way survey to date
Gaia is ESA's mission to create the most accurate and complete multi-dimensional map of the Milky Way.
This allows astronomers to reconstruct our home galaxy's...