Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Astronomy
Closest star approach to the sun
Astronomers discover a binary system that made the closest known flyby of the sun.
- Astronomy
Giant hydrogen cloud headed for Milky Way
A high-speed hydrogen cloud on a crash course with the Milky Way appears to be an exotic interloper, preliminary data suggest.
- Astronomy
Top 10 messages to send to E.T.
Fears that sending signals to alien civilizations would provoke an invasion shouldn't prevent transmitting important messages.
- Planetary Science
Enceladus ocean may resemble Antarctic lake
The pH of a subsurface sea on a moon of Saturn resembles an ice-covered lake in Antarctica where microbial mats thrive.
- Astronomy
Stellar nursery gives birth to quadruplets
Four young stars, still in their cocoons, show that binary and other multiple star systems form together.
- Astronomy
Finding joy and inspiration in the pursuit of knowledge
Editor in Chief Eva Emerson ruminates on the power of knowledge, and the ways scientists are refining how we think about the aging human brain, far away comets and even the speed of light.
- Astronomy
White dwarf pair will trigger a supernova — in 700 million years
Astronomers found two white dwarfs with enough mass to explode as a supernova.
- Astronomy
First stars born later than thought
New results from the Planck mission indicate that the first stars began to shine 550 million years after the Big Bang.
- Astronomy
Asteroids or planets might trigger a supernova
Rocky debris falling onto a white dwarf might trigger some supernovas.
- Planetary Science
New Horizons snaps new photos of Pluto
Pluto and its moon Charon appear as two smudges in the first pictures taken since New Horizons came out of hibernation.
- Physics
When entering a black hole, fasten your seat belt
Rapidly spinning black holes can generate turbulence, a new analysis shows.
- Astronomy
Giant rings encircle young exoplanet
Stretching 90 million kilometers from their center, 37 stripes of dust around exoplanet were probably crafted by moons.
