Space & Future
Astronomers uncover rare starspot-crossing exoplanet 140 light-years away
When astronomers observe a planet passing in front of its star, the slight dip in starlight reveals a wealth of information.
This method, known as...
This star is consuming its companion and could explode brilliantly
Binary star systems are not rare.
Neither are systems where one star is a remnant like a white dwarf or neutron star, and its companion...
This wandering black hole has left its galactic center
Our knowledge of black holes is incomplete.
We know there are stellar mass black holes that are created when massive stars collapse on themselves at...
One wrong hit could send an asteroid on a collision course with Earth
When a massive asteroid is hurtling toward Earth, the solution seems straightforward; smash a spacecraft into it and knock it off course.
That’s exactly what...
Why autonomous reactors are key to powering human life on Mars
Sending humans to Mars will require reliable energy systems that can work without constant human attention.
One of the most promising options is nuclear power,...
A star is devouring its twin in a cosmic feeding frenzy
Astronomers have discovered a star system unlike anything seen before: a greedy white dwarf star is feasting on its much larger stellar companion at...
The messy habits of small black holes
The best opportunity to study black holes is when they're actively accreting matter.
During these times, matter gathers in an accretion disk around the black...
Mars has a solid core, solving a planetary mystery
For decades, scientists have puzzled over the deep interior of Mars.
Did it resemble Earth, with a solid center wrapped in a liquid outer core,...
A new shape for telescopes could help us find “Earth 2.0”
For all we know, Earth is the only place in the universe that hosts life.
Every living thing here depends on liquid water, which provides...
Astronomers detect protostellar jets in the Milky Way’s outskirts
Astronomers have made a remarkable discovery that sheds new light on how stars are born.
Using the powerful Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile,...
Astronomers discover strange disk around Fomalhaut that hints at hidden planets
brightest stars near Earth, and what they found is rewriting the story of this fascinating system.
Using the powerful Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in...
Solar flares found to be far hotter than we ever imagined
For decades, scientists have known that solar flares—huge bursts of energy from the sun’s outer atmosphere—can reach astonishing temperatures of more than 10 million...
Deep Space
Scientists unravel the secrets of volcanism on ancient Venus
Scientists have made an exciting discovery about Venus, our planet Earth's closest planetary sibling.
Just like Earth, Venus is a rocky planet, but instead of...
Slushy magma ocean helped form the Moon’s crust, shows study
Scientists have shown how the freezing of a ‘slushy’ ocean of magma may be responsible for the composition of the Moon’s crust.
The scientists, from...
Earth-size stars and alien oceans: An astronomer explains the case for life around white...
The sun will someday die. This will happen when it runs out of hydrogen fuel in its core and can no longer produce energy...
Scientists catch a natural comet outburst in unprecedented detail
Using data from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), astronomers at the University of Maryland (UMD), in College Park, Maryland, have captured a clear...
NASA’s TESS finds eight more super-earths
NASA’s Kepler spacecraft has discovered most of the confirmed exoplanets that we know of.
But its successor, TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite), is catching up.
New...