Space

Earth

Catastrophic solar storms may not explain shadows of radiation in trees

Tree rings record six known Miyake events — spikes in global radiation levels in the past. The sun, as long presumed, might not be the sole culprit.

Astronomy

Part of a lost, ancient star catalog has now been found

Greek astronomer Hipparchus may be the first to try to precisely map the stars. His lost work turned up on parchment that had been erased and reused.

Astronomy

Astronomers have found the closest known black hole to Earth

Discovered by how it pushes around a companion star, the black hole is about 1,500 light-years away and roughly 10 times the mass of the sun.

Planetary Science

Marsquakes hint that the planet might be volcanically active after all

Seismic data recorded by NASA’s InSight lander suggest molten rock moves tens of kilometers below the planet’s fractured Cerberus Fossae region.

Microbes

Ancient bacteria could persist beneath Mars’ surface

Radiation-tolerant microbes might be able to survive beneath Mars’ surface for hundreds of millions of years, a new study suggests.

Astronomy

Meet the BOAT, the brightest gamma-ray burst of all time

Probably triggered by a supernova in a remote galaxy, the burst detected on October 9 could challenge theories about these brilliant blasts.

Earth

Particles from space provide a new look inside cyclones

Cosmic rays that smash into the atmosphere make muons that are sensitive to changing air pressure inside storms.

Astronomy

Most stars may have much more time to form planets than previously thought

Planet-making disks may survive around most young stars for 5 million to 10 million years — more than double a previous estimate.

Astronomy

For the first time, astronomers saw dust in space being pushed by starlight

Images collected over 16 years reveal that dust expelled from a well-known binary star system is hurried on its way by light from those stars.

Astronomy

A 3-D model of the Cat’s Eye nebula shows rings sculpted by jets

The Cat’s Eye is one of the most complex nebulae known. A 3-D reconstruction reveals the source of some of that complexity.

Planetary Science

NASA’s DART mission successfully shoved an asteroid

Data obtained since the spacecraft intentionally crashed into an asteroid show that the impact altered the space rock’s orbit even more than intended.

Astronomy

The James Webb Space Telescope spied the earliest born stars yet seen

The stars, found in the first released science image from the James Webb Space Telescope, probably winked into existence about 13 billion years ago.