Space & Future
Scientists explore the surface of a super-Earth 48 light-years away
Astronomers have taken an exciting step forward in understanding planets beyond our solar system by studying not just their atmospheres, but their actual surfaces.
Using...
How can this tiny world have an atmosphere? Scientists are stunned
Far beyond Neptune, in one of the coldest and darkest regions of our solar system, astronomers have discovered something unexpected: a small icy object...
What happens when a star gets too close to a black hole
Supermassive black holes are among the most enigmatic objects in the universe.
They typically weigh millions or even billions of times the mass of the...
Astronomers finally crack the mass mystery of Orion’s hidden young stars
A star’s mass shapes everything about its life, from how bright it shines to how it eventually dies.
Small stars like our Sun burn slowly...
Astronomers discover missing planets around the galaxy’s most common stars
Astronomers have discovered something surprising about planets beyond our solar system.
Even though planets are incredibly common—scientists now estimate there is at least one planet...
Why one side of the Milky Way is hotter than the other
Scientists have discovered a surprising reason why one side of our galaxy is warmer than the other, and the explanation is something you might...
How the Milky Way’s smallest neighbors reveal the early universe
Astronomers have long been fascinated by tiny galaxies that orbit the Milky Way.
These faint and fragile systems, known as ultra-faint dwarf galaxies, are often...
Binary stars form lots of exoplanets, but many of them are ejected as rogue...
Astronomers don't have to work hard to find binary stars in the Milky Way.
They're common, even abundant. For a long time, they thought that...
Scientists finally discover the true edge of the Milky Way
For many years, astronomers have wondered where the Milky Way truly “ends.” Unlike a solid object, our galaxy does not have a clear boundary.
Its...
Potential signs of life on distant planets sound exciting, but confirmation can take years
Astronomers can use telescopes to find specific molecules in the atmospheres of neighboring planets, in nebulae—clouds of interstellar dust and gas—hundreds or thousands of...
Astronomers find the edge of the Milky Way’s star-forming disc
Where exactly is the edge of the Milky Way?
That question is harder to answer than one might expect. Since we’re inside of the galaxy...
Forget our Sun—Planets might form more easily around double stars
For a long time, scientists believed that having two stars in one system would make it difficult for planets to form.
The strong gravitational pull...
Deep Space
Scientists discover an unusual neutron star in stellar graveyard
Astronomers have discovered a new kind of neutron star in an unusual Galactic 'graveyard'. Unlike any of its stellar neighbors, the star pulses.
Scientists have...
James Webb Space Telescope reveals four distinct CO₂ types on Saturn’s Moons
What can carbon dioxide (CO₂) on Saturn’s moons teach scientists about their formation and evolution?
This is what a recent study submitted to The Planetary...
Scientists look for dark matter close to home
Eighty-five percent of the universe is composed of dark matter, but we don't know what, exactly, it is.
A new study from the University of...
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...
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...