Astronomy
- Planetary Science
How NASA has kept Apollo moon rocks safe from contamination for 50 years
NASA wouldn’t let our reporter touch the Apollo moon rocks. Here’s why that’s a good thing.
- Astronomy
Moons that escape their planets could become ‘ploonets’
If giant planets in other star systems lose their moons, the freed objects could become “ploonets,” and current telescopes may be able to find them.
- Ecosystems
Moonlight shapes how some animals move, grow and even sing
The moon’s light influences lion prey behavior, dung beetle navigation, fish growth, mass migrations and birdsong.
- Astronomy
After all this time, the moon still manages to surprise us
Editor in Chief Nancy Shute discusses 50 years of lunar science.
- Astronomy
How the 2019 eclipse will differ from 2017’s — and what that means for science
This year’s total solar eclipse is visible late in the day from a relatively small slice of South America.
- Astronomy
The earliest known galaxy merger occurred shortly after the Big Bang
Telescopes show two distant blobs of stars and gas swirling around each other in the young universe.
- Astronomy
In a first, telescopes tracked a lone fast radio burst to a faraway galaxy
First-time observations suggest that the cause of one-time fast radio bursts is different from what triggers repeatedly flashing radio bursts.
- Astronomy
A new algorithm finds nearby stars that could host hidden worlds
An algorithm dubbed “Netflix for exoplanets” identified more than 350 stars that, based on their chemistry, might have planets orbiting out of sight.
- Astronomy
The highest-energy photons ever seen hail from the Crab Nebula
An experiment in Tibet spotted photons with over 100 trillion electron volts of energy.
- Astronomy
The cosmic ‘Cow’ may be a strange supernova
New observations suggest the strange bright burst called the ‘Cow’ was a supernova, rather than a shredded star.
- Astronomy
Readers boggled by black hole behemoth
Readers had questions about the first image of a black hole and a chytrid fungus.
- Astronomy
Table salt may be hiding in Europa’s underground sea
Observations of Europa by the Hubble Space Telescope suggest that the moon’s ice-covered ocean may hold sodium chloride, or common table salt.
