Space & Future
Why so many space rocks look like snowmen
Far beyond Neptune, at the cold edge of our solar system, millions of icy objects drift quietly in a region called the Kuiper Belt.
These...
NASA’s Hubble finds a ghost galaxy made almost entirely of dark matter
Astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have discovered an extremely faint galaxy that may be made almost entirely of dark matter, the mysterious substance...
Astronomers get to the heart of Mira A’s latest outburst
Just a few hundred light-years from Earth, the famous variable star Mira A is huffing and puffing its outer layers to space. Its most...
The moon is still shrinking: New study reveals recent tectonic activity
For a long time, people imagined the moon as a quiet, frozen world where nothing much happens anymore.
But new research shows that the moon...
A cosmic jellyfish from the early universe surprises astronomers
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have discovered the most distant “jellyfish galaxy” ever seen, offering a rare glimpse into how galaxies changed...
Utah’s “soda pop” geysers may hold clues to life on distant ocean worlds
In the dry desert of eastern Utah, strange geysers shoot cold, fizzy water into the air.
Instead of boiling like the famous hot geysers in...
If aliens already called, why didn’t we hear?
For more than 60 years, scientists have been scanning the skies for signs of intelligent life beyond Earth.
Using powerful telescopes, they have searched for...
Scientists make a game-changing find in the Bennu asteroid
In 2023, NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission delivered samples of the 4.6-billion-year-old asteroid Bennu to Earth.
Upon examining them, scientists discovered that the asteroid - which existed...
James Webb Telescope detects rotten-egg gas on alien worlds for the first time
Astronomers have detected a smelly gas best known for the odor of rotten eggs—hydrogen sulfide—in the atmospheres of four giant planets far beyond our...
How a rare element could fuel the next generation of space missions
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) are taking a fresh look at neptunium, a rare radioactive metal that...
Scientists finally solve the mystery of how the most common planets form
Astronomers have finally figured out how the most common types of planets in our galaxy are formed—by watching a set of baby planets grow...
Astronomers spot one of the earliest galaxy clusters ever discovered
Astronomers using two of NASA’s most powerful space telescopes have discovered a massive cluster of galaxies forming much earlier in the universe than scientists...
Deep Space
What Jupiter’s swirls and Saturn’s hexagon reveal about the planets’ hidden interiors
For years, spacecraft images have shown that the poles of Jupiter and Saturn are anything but calm. Each planet hosts giant atmospheric whirlpools called...
There’s more water inside planets than we thought
When you walk across your lawn or down the street, you move on the surface of a surprisingly layered world. Some of those layers...
Scientists reveal the nature of unknown gamma-ray sources
Astronomers have unveiled the nature of hundreds of gamma-ray emitting sources, discovering that most of them belong to the class of active galaxies known...
Scientists discover how crucial life ingredient forms in space
A team of chemists from the University of Maryland has uncovered a new method to create carbenes, a class of highly reactive molecules essential...
It all started with a Big Bang: The quest to unravel the mystery behind...
How did everything begin?
It's a question that humans have pondered for thousands of years. Over the last century or so, science has homed in...