Space & Future
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...
NASA spots a young sun blowing a giant bubble in space
Astronomers have captured the first clear image of a giant “bubble” surrounding a young star that closely resembles what our own sun looked like...
Deep Space
Many “mini-Neptunes” once thought to be lava worlds may have solid surfaces
Astronomers have long puzzled over a strange and abundant type of planet found across the galaxy—known as “mini-Neptunes.”
These worlds are smaller than Neptune but...
Did supernova explosions cause ancient mass extinctions on Earth?
Scientists from Keele University have found strong evidence that some of Earth’s past mass extinctions could have been caused by nearby supernova explosions—massive star...
Scientists build a quantum bit that can search for dark matter
Some kind of invisible material is out there affecting the motions of stars and galaxies, but thus far, no one has been able to...
Mysterious star challenges our understanding of how stars evolve
A newly discovered star, named J0524-0336, has left astronomers scratching their heads and may provide fresh insights into the life cycle of stars.
This discovery,...
NASA fixes broken space camera from 370 million miles away
NASA scientists recently pulled off a remarkable space repair—saving a camera orbiting Jupiter from 370 million miles away.
The camera, called JunoCam, is part of...