Space & Future

A Beautiful Death How a Dying Star Created the Crystal Ball Nebula

Planetary nebulae like the Crystal Ball Nebula (NGC 1514) are sort of like stellar obituaries. Though crystal balls supposedly reveal the future, the Crystal Ball...

Scientists Detect Sand-Like Clouds That Vanish Daily on Alien World

Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have discovered unusual weather patterns on a giant exoplanet nearly 700 light-years away from Earth. The planet, called...

Webb Telescope finds methane-rich atmosphere on rare Saturn-sized exoplanet

Astronomers using NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have discovered a giant planet with an atmosphere rich in methane, offering scientists a rare look at...

NASA detects powerful gamma rays from a rare “supercharged” supernova

Astronomers have made an exciting discovery that could change how we understand some of the most powerful explosions in the universe. Using data from NASA’s...

Tiny galaxies around the Milky Way may reveal what the infant universe was really...

Astronomers are turning to some of the smallest galaxies in the universe to answer one of the biggest questions in science: what was the...

Scientists discover a new way to spot alien life by looking for hidden patterns

For many years, scientists searching for life beyond Earth have focused on one main question: what kinds of molecules should they look for on...

Ancient galactic crash may have reshaped the Milky Way 11 billion years ago

The Milky Way may have gone through a violent cosmic collision billions of years ago that dramatically changed the structure of our galaxy, according...

Scientists discover exploding star material hidden in Antarctic Ice

Scientists studying ancient Antarctic ice have discovered new evidence that Earth is currently traveling through a cloud of material left behind by long-dead stars. An...

Scientists discover strange “toothpaste-like” space effect deep in Mars’s atmosphere

Scientists studying Mars have discovered a surprising atmospheric phenomenon that was previously only known to exist around Earth. The discovery could change how researchers understand...

Iron and ice: Earth’s passage through the interstellar cloud

Iron-60 is a radioactive isotope of iron that's found in Antarctic ice and in deep-sea crusts. It's only source is nucleosynthesis in the cataclysmic explosive...

Jupiter’s moon Ganymede may still be building its heart of metal

Jupiter’s moon Ganymede is already famous for being the largest moon in the solar system. At more than 3,200 miles wide, it is even...

Scientists find a new way to listen to the “ringing” of black holes

When two black holes crash into each other, the event is one of the most violent and powerful collisions in the universe. The two objects...

Deep Space

NASA’s Hubble uncovers a dusty mystery on Uranus’s moons

Scientists using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope set out to study how Uranus’s magnetic field interacts with its largest moons—but instead, they stumbled upon a...

Scientists are unraveling the mysterious surroundings of black holes

New scientific tools are being built that will allow us to spy on black holes for much longer periods, even years before they merge.

Scientists establish new timeline for ancient magnetic field on Mars

Mars had a global magnetic field much earlier—and much later—in the planet's history than scientists have previously known. A planet's global magnetic field arises from...

Magnetic fields on Mars ten times stronger than expected

New data gleaned from the magnetic sensor aboard NASA's InSight spacecraft is offering an unprecedented close-up of magnetic fields on Mars. In a study published...

Water’s epic journey to Earth began before the Sun formed

The origin of Earth’s water is a complicated mystery that scientists have been untangling for decades.