It has now been just over a year since the comet 3I/ATLAS first captured the world’s attention as the third known object to fly through our solar system from beyond. Astronomers are still learning new things about where exactly it came from. For the first time ever, they’ve been able to study charged particles in […]
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No cities on the moon — there isn’t enough water, scientists say (op-ed)
The discovery of water at the poles of the moon has inspired speculation about whether we can build there – cities, industrial neighborhoods, places where people work and live. But is there enough water, and can we use it efficiently enough? In their new article in Frontiers in Space Technologies, Dr. Martin Elvis and Dr. […]
Read MoreJames Webb Space Telescope and Hubble discover 27 puzzling new objects orbiting the sun far beyond Neptune
The Hubble and James Webb space telescopes have teamed up to target some of the smallest, most distant objects in the solar system, discovering that the history of these tiny objects is more puzzling than we’d realized. The two orbiting observatories collectively discovered 27 new Trans-Neptunian Objects, or TNOs, all less than 25 miles (40 […]
Read MoreJames Webb Space Telescope discovers the rings of tiny solar system body Chariklo are changing
Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have discovered that the ring system of a tiny solar system body is even more interesting than they knew. The object in question is Chariklo, which orbits the sun between Saturn and Uranus, at around 17 times the distance between Earth and the sun. Despite only being […]
Read MoreNASA, IBM launch new AI model for studying the moon
We’ve been studying the moon for a long time. NASA has gathered mountains of data over decades of lunar missions and studies. The data collected by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) alone, for example, exceeds that of all NASA’s other planetary missions combined. Analyzing all this information takes lots of time and effort from researchers. […]
Read MoreThe sun may once have swallowed a super-Earth planet and could still be hiding the evidence
Our star and primary energy source that makes life on this planet possible may also be a cosmic cannibal. That’s according to new research that suggests the sun may have swallowed a super-Earth planet billions of years ago in its early history. And our star may still be hiding the evidence. The scientists behind this […]
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Wavy alien dune fields stretch across Mars | Space photo of the day for Sept. 11, 2026
A dune field on Mars, as seen by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona) Are those purple, wavy, alien thumbprints? Or perhaps an otherworldly ocean? Nope! It’s actually a dune field on Mars, colored purple. What is it? Across the Martian surface are all sorts of unique features in the rocky, dusty […]
Read MoreScientists discover mysterious new X-ray objects ‘unlike any they have seen before’
NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory has found a brand new type of an otherwise familiar object – compact binary systems that steal gas from other stars, but which do so while emitting very low-energy X-rays but copious amounts of ultraviolet. Chandra spotted 84 suspicious object emitting very low-energy X-rays in six galaxies – four evolved ellipticals […]
Read MoreScientists study 3,000 supernovas and discover that dark energy may be evolving
A catalog of almost 3,000 white dwarfs that exploded as type Ia supernovas after overfeeding on companion stars indicates that dark energy, the mysterious force accelerating the expansion of the universe, is changing over time. The discovery, in conjunction with data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES), backs results revealed from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic […]
Read MoreMercury is shrinking faster than we thought. What’s going on inside of it?
Wrinkles on the surface of Mercury have revealed that the closest planet to the sun is shrinking faster than scientists thought. New research suggests that Mercury is shrinking between 10% and 30% faster than had been previously estimated. The team behind this research calculated that the planet has lost nearly 12 miles (19 kilometers) of […]
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Iconic Star Trek filming location spotted from space | Space photo of the day for Sept. 10, 2026
This new satellite image shows Vasquez Rocks in southern California, where Captain Kirk once faced off against the Gorn. (Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison/CBS via Getty Images) Decades ago, Captain Kirk faced off against the Gorn on the uncharted desert planet Metron. But as we can see in new satellite imagery from NASA, that […]
Read MoreThis ‘impossible’ black hole merger may be explained by a warp in spacetime
A “forbidden” merger between two massive black holes may not have been quite as impossible as previously thought. That’s according to new research that suggests the black holes involved were smaller than expected. On Nov. 23, 2023, the gravitational wave detector LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) detected tiny ripples in spacetime caused by the merger […]
Read MoreAstronomers discover two stars that joined together to form a binary system just 60 years ago
Using the ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array) radio telescope, astronomers have watched as two stars come together to form a massive stellar binary. The observations revealed that these stars didn’t form from the same collapsing cloud of gas and dust, as most binary stars are assumed to form, but instead came together later in their […]
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NASA’s newly launched Roman Space Telescope will ‘directly’ image exoplanets. But what does that mean?
A brand new observatory began its tenure on Aug. 30 — it’s called the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, and it’s equipped with a high-tech tool that can directly photograph planets beyond our solar system. The tool is called a coronagraph; in simple terms, a coronagraph is a device that can be affixed to a […]
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Indonesian volcanic eruption spotted from space | Space photo of the day for Sept. 9, 2026
The Anak Krakatau volcano began erupting on Sept. 4, 2026, as seen here on Sept. 5 by the Landsat 8 satellite jointly operated between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) (Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison) A volcano on an Indonesian archipelago began erupting on Sept. 4, and satellites in orbit have been watching […]
Read MoreDid Venus eat its own moon?
Scientists may finally know why Venus, Earth’s twin, lacks a moon, finding that the hottest planet in the solar system may have consumed its own natural satellite. Venus is often referred to as Earth’s twin due to its size, mass, rocky composition, and distance from the sun, but there are some glaring differences between the […]
Read MoreEarth’s moon could have formed in just 5 hours after giant impact
The moon could have formed in a matter of hours following the giant impact between Earth and a Mars-size protoplanet early in the history of the solar system. The theory comes from new simulations that take into account how the internal temperature of young protoplanets affected their geologic properties and therefore the collisions they experienced. […]
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Galaxies tangled in science and spirit | Space photo of the day for Sept. 7, 2026
Nā ‘Uhane Māhoe Huki Pū i ke Ola is the Hawaiian name given to this image of NGC 7253 — a pair of spiral galaxies caught in each other’s gravity. This image was captured by the Gemini North telescope on Maunakea. (Image credit: International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA) It is nearly impossible to fathom the entirety of […]
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The future of Earth observation: Private satellites and AI bring benefits but also pose risks
We are a planet-based species: With a few notable (astronaut) exceptions, everyone who has ever lived remained glued to our spinning Earth, which now houses 8.3 billion people. That’s the gravity of the situation. But we’re also a world of floods, typhoons, earthquakes, heat and cold calamities, volcanic eruptions and even encounters with sun-caused auroras […]
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NASA expands Deep Space Network with giant new dish in California desert
NASA’s long-distance spacecraft-calling network just got a boost. The Deep Space Network (DSN), best known for communicating with distant spacecraft such as Voyager 1, Voyager 2 and New Horizons, added a 114-foot (34-meter) radio-frequency antenna in California, boosting capacity on the increasingly crowded network. More than 40 spacecraft exploring the solar system and interstellar space […]
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Scientists detect signals of hydrogen from billions of years ago. Could this help us map out the universe?
Astronomers have used the MeerKAT radio telescope to detect hydrogen gas billions of light-years away from us — from a period when the cosmos was billions of years younger than its current age of 13.8 billion years. The research may provide astronomers with a new way of mapping the large-scale structure of the universe. The […]
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Stars forge and deliver the elements that make up your body — and scientists may finally know how
Scientists are closer than ever before to understanding how stars forge the elements that comprise our planet, bodies and pretty much everything else around us — and they’re gaining a clearer picture of where star explosions fit into the story. New research reported in two different papers looks at how stars forge elements as they […]
Read MoreHubble Telescope sees spectacular ‘superbubble’ | Space photo of the day for Sept. 4, 2026
This nebula is named LHA 120-N44, or N44 for short, and it’s located in the constellation Dorado. (Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, D. Gouliermis) About 160,000 light-years away lies one of our Milky Way’s little galactic neighbors: The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). And thanks to a new observing program, the Hubble Space Telescope has provided […]
Read MoreScientists watch a comet being born 3 billion miles away
Astronomers have witnessed a small, icy body that orbits the sun out beyond Jupiter transforming into a comet, providing a missing link between comets and inert bodies called centaurs. The object in question is called 450P/LONEOS and is named after the Lowell Observatory survey that found it back in 2004. It is a centaur, which […]
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Comet McNaught put on a surprise show this summer: Here’s how to spot it before it fades
Comet 220P/McNaught has already put on an unexpectedly impressive show this summer as two dramatic outbursts of activity caused it to shine 20,000 times brighter than usual. Here’s how you can spot the icy interloper before it fades in the coming weeks. Comet 220P/McNaught orbits the sun once every 5.5-years. It reached perihelion — its […]
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Supermassive black holes ‘too big’ for the early universe may not be so massive after all
In the four years that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been making observations of the early universe, it has been delivering one scientific milestone after another. However, the $10 billion telescope has also left astronomers with a massive problem — literally. The JWST has been routinely spotting supermassive black holes in the early […]
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The moon might be hiding a history of ancient supernova explosions
It’s now possible to disentangle the sprinkling of supernova dust on the moon from the lunar dirt it is mixed up in, thanks to a new computer model that opens up the moon’s surface as a time capsule holding details about the history of supernova explosions near the Earth as our solar system has travelled […]
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On Cloud 9: Have astronomers discovered the first starless galaxy?
Scientists are closer than ever before to confirming that a galaxy known as “Cloud 9” is the first “starless” or “failed” galaxy ever discovered by humanity. A starless galaxy is one with virtually no stars despite possessing a wealth of gas and dust that would normally serve as the building blocks of stars. The dominant […]
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James Webb Space Telescope observes 72 stars and finds planet formation is a race against time
Using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers have studied 72 young, sun-like stars. As a result, they found that forming planets is a real race against time. This is because the material that serves as the building blocks for planets is constantly escaping the swirling platters of gas and dust, or protoplanetary disks, that […]
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Glowing galaxy with anomalous extra arms | Space photo of the day for Aug. 27, 2026
An image of this spiral galaxy NGC 4258 that combines X-ray observations from NASA’s Chandra X-ray observatory (seen here in royal blue), optical light gathered by the Hubble Space Telescope (red, yellow and pale blue), and infrared light seen by the James Webb Space Telescope (bright orange). (Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI; Infrared: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI; […]
Read MoreAstronomers discover hot watery exoplanet destined to be swallowed by its star
Astronomers have discovered a new ocean world outside the solar system that orbits extremely close to its parent star. This means that the extrasolar planet, or “exoplanet,” is in hot water, both literally and figuratively. The exoplanet orbits the star HD 176071 located around 335 light-years away, and is about two and a half times […]
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