Astronomers Discover New Way to Unlock the Mysteries of the First Galaxies
A team of astronomers has discovered a new way to unlock the mysteries of how the first galaxies formed and evolved. In a study published…
Space News
Radar Probe Reveals Huge Reservoir of Liquid Water Under Mars’ Surface
Using radar to probe the polar ice caps of Mars, scientists have detected an underground reservoir of liquid that may be saltwater and that extends…
New Radiation Maps Reveal Where Astronomers Should Look for Biosignatures on Europa
New comprehensive mapping of the radiation pummeling Jupiter’s icy moon Europa reveals where scientists should look — and how deep they’ll have to go —…
NASA’s MAVEN Spacecraft Just Found a New Type of Martian Aurora
Auroras appear on Earth as ghostly displays of colorful light in the night sky, usually near the poles. Our rocky neighbor Mars has auroras too,…
NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies Enters Third Decade
On March 11, 1998, asteroid astronomers around the world received an ominous message: new observational data on the recently discovered asteroid 1997 XF11 suggested there…
Is the Soil on Mars Too Dry to Sustain Life?
Life as we know it needs water to thrive. Even so, we see life persist in the driest environments on Earth. But how dry is…
Dark Ribbon of Ion Emissions Wraps Up Mystery of Jupiter’s Magnetic Equator
The discovery of a dark ribbon of weak hydrogen ion emissions that encircles Jupiter has overturned previous thinking about the giant planet’s magnetic equator. An…
Hubble Image of the Week – The Milky Way’s Big Sister
This image taken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) shows a beautiful spiral galaxy called NGC 6744. At first glance,…
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Prepares to Travel to the Sun
This summer, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe will launch to travel closer to the Sun, deeper into the solar atmosphere, than any mission before it. If…
NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Views High-Altitude Jovian Clouds
This image captures a high-altitude cloud formation surrounded by swirling patterns in the atmosphere of Jupiter’s North North Temperate Belt region. The North North Temperate…
Scientists Search for Dust Storm Secrets on Mars
Side-by-side movies shows how dust has enveloped the Red Planet, courtesy of the Mars Color Imager (MARCI) camera onboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). The…
Astronomers Reveal Unified Model for Galactic Discs: Star Formation, Turbulence Driving, and Mass Transport
Disc galaxies like our own Milky Way, characterized by a flattened disc of stars and gas (often with a central bulge of material as well)…
Chandra Reveals First Evidence of Young Star RW Aur A Devouring a Planet
Chandra data indicates that a young star, known as RW Aur A, has likely destroyed and consumed an infant planet. If confirmed, this would be…
Astronomers Reveal Fine-Grained Structures in the Sun’s Outer Corona
In 1610, Galileo redesigned the telescope and discovered Jupiter’s four largest moons. Nearly 400 years later, NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope used its powerful optics to…
Six New Infrared Images of Saturn’s Moon Titan Are the Clearest Views To Date
These six infrared images of Saturn’s moon Titan represent some of the clearest, most seamless-looking global views of the icy moon’s surface produced so far….
Astronomers Discover a Dozen New Moons Around Jupiter, Including One ‘Oddball’
Twelve new moons orbiting Jupiter have been found—11 “normal” outer moons, and one that they’re calling an “oddball.” This brings Jupiter’s total number of known…
ESO’s VLT Captures Remarkably Sharp Test Images of Neptune
ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) has achieved first light with a new adaptive optics mode called laser tomography — and has captured remarkably sharp test…
“Ghostly Particle” is Confirmed to Have Originated From a Blazar
The “ghostly particle” is confirmed to have originated from a blazar, nearly 4 billion light years from Earth. For the first time, scientists from around…