Astronomy
- Astronomy
Astronomers get glimpse of star 9 billion light-years away
A bright blue star sends its light from two-thirds of the way across the universe, thanks to a chance alignment with a galaxy cluster.
- Planetary Science
The moon might have had a heavy metal atmosphere with supersonic winds
Heat from a glowing infant Earth could have vaporized the moon’s metals into an atmosphere as thick as Mars’, a new simulation shows.
- Tech
Gecko-inspired robot grippers could grab hold of space junk
Aboard a microgravity plane, NASA is testing gecko-inspired grippers that one day could help clear up space junk.
- Astronomy
Satellite trio will hunt gravitational waves from space
The European Space Agency has green-lighted the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, expected to launch in 2034.
- Astronomy
Kepler shows small exoplanets are either super-Earths or mini-Neptunes
The final catalog from the Kepler space telescope splits Earthlike exoplanets into two groups and pinpoints 10 new rocky planets in the habitable zone.
- Astronomy
Eclipse watchers catch part of the sun’s surface fleeing to space
A serendipitous eruption during a solar eclipse showed relatively cool blobs of plasma, wrapped in a million-degree flame, streaming from the sun.
- Astronomy
Life might have a shot on planets orbiting dim red stars
The number of planets in the habitable zone of dim red suns, known as M dwarfs, is growing. They’re a good place to look for life.
- Astronomy
Einstein’s light-bending by single far-off star detected
A measurement so precise Einstein thought it couldn't be done has demonstrated his most famous theory on a star outside the solar system for the first time.
- Astronomy
Scalding hot gas giant breaks heat records
KELT 9b’s sun blasts it with so much radiation that the planet’s dayside is hotter than most stars and its atmosphere is being stripped away.
- Physics
LIGO snags another set of gravitational waves
Two black holes stirred up the third set of gravitational waves ever detected.
- Astronomy
Magnetism disrupts winds on ‘hot Jupiter’ exoplanet
Simulations of HAT-P 7b’s magnetic field give clues to why the exoplanet’s winds blow both east and west.
- Science & Society
The first Cassini to explore Saturn was a person
Cassini, the spacecraft about to dive into Saturn, was named for the astronomical pioneer who first perceived the gap between the planet’s famous rings.
