Astronomy

Astronomy

Astronomers can’t figure out why some black holes got so big so fast

Early supermassive black holes are challenging astronomers’ ideas about how the behemoths grew so quickly.

Planetary Science

Dwarf planet Ceres may store underground brine that still gushes up today

Waterlogged minerals and changing ice add to evidence that Ceres is geologically active.

Astronomy

New Horizons’ next target has been dubbed Ultima Thule

NASA has named New Horizons spacecraft’s next target Ultima Thule after the public suggested tens of thousands of monikers for the Kuiper Belt object.

Planetary Science

Cosmic dust may create Mars’ wispy clouds

Magnesium left by passing comets seeds the clouds of Mars, a new study suggests.

Astronomy

We probably won’t hear from aliens. But by the time we do, they’ll be dead.

Astronomers build on the Drake Equation to probe the chance that humans will find existing aliens. The answer: Not likely.

Astronomy

50 years ago, pulsars burst onto the scene

Thousands of pulsars have been discovered since the announcement of their detection 50 years ago.

Physics

Some meteorites contain superconducting bits

Scientists find materials that conduct electricity without resistance in two meteorites.

Astronomy

Massive stellar flare may have fried Earth’s nearest exoplanet

A massive flare made Proxima Centauri 1,000 times brighter in 10 seconds, dimming hopes that its planet may be habitable.

Astronomy

Loner gas clouds could be a new kind of stellar system

Weird loner clumps of gas that have wandered for 1 billion years may have been stripped from a trio of larger galaxies.

Cosmology

Here’s when the universe’s first stars may have been born

The first stars lit the cosmos by 180 million years after the Big Bang, radio observations suggest.

Astronomy

Watch an experimental space shield shred a speeding bullet

Engineers tested how well a prototype shield for spacecraft would stand up to space debris by shooting it with a solid aluminum pellet.

Planetary Science

Readers weigh in on human gene editing and more

Readers debated feeling morally obligated to edit their kid's genes and had questions about exoplanets.