Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Planetary Science
Origin date established for Mercury’s magnetic field
A 3.8-billion-year-old magnetic field on Mercury provides clues as to how the once volcanically active planet evolved.
- Astronomy
Amorphous space blob takes title for most distant galaxy
The new record holder for the most distant galaxy is a blob of 8 billion stars whose light took more than 13 billion years to reach Earth.
- Astronomy
‘Black Hole’ traces 100 years of a transformative idea
Implied by general relativity and proven by astronomical discoveries, black holes’ existence took decades for physicists to accept.
- Astronomy
Wandering planets, the smell of rain and more reader feedback
Readers consider how hard it would be to fashion Paleolithic tools, discuss what to call free-floating worlds and more.
- Planetary Science
How did Earth get its water?
Earth is a wet planet that formed in a dry part of the solar system. How our planet’s water arrived may be a story of big, bullying planets and ice-filled asteroids.
- Planetary Science
Explore an asteroid with ‘Vesta Trek’
Vesta Trek lets users explore the asteroid Vesta with data from the Dawn spacecraft.
- Planetary Science
MESSENGER mission ends with crash landing on Mercury
The MESSENGER mission to Mercury came to a spectacular end as the probe crashed into the planet’s surface.
- Planetary Science
Pluto’s landscapes come into view as New Horizons closes in
The New Horizons spacecraft sees surface markings and a possible polar cap on Pluto as it closes in for a July encounter.
- Astronomy
Tiny explosions add up to heat corona
Millions of mini-explosions every second on the sun could solve the riddle of why the sun’s atmosphere is so much warmer than its surface.
- Planetary Science
The Martian Diaries
Curiosity has explored Mars for over two and a half years. What if NASA's rover kept a scrapbook?
- Astronomy
Lit-up gas clouds hint at galaxies’ violent pasts
Voorwerpjes, tendrils of gas that orbit galaxies, continue to glow tens of thousands of years after being blasted with ultraviolet radiation.
- Astronomy
Astronomers celebrating Hubble’s past focus on its future
Astronomers celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope by reflecting on its diversity and looking ahead to the future.
