Space

Planetary Science

Mars’ buried ‘lake’ might just be layers of ice and rock

Evidence grows that possible detections of liquid water buried near Mars’ south pole might not hold water.

Planetary Science

Robin Wordsworth re-creates the atmosphere of ancient Mars

Robin Wordsworth studies the climates of Mars and other alien worlds to find out whether they could support life.

Science & Society

Big questions inspire the scientists on this year’s SN 10 list

These scientists to watch study climate change, alien worlds, human evolution, the coronavirus and more.

Planetary Science

NASA’s DART spacecraft just smashed into an asteroid — on purpose

If the first-ever attempt to knock a space rock off course works, it could provide a blueprint to protect Earth from a killer asteroid.

Planetary Science

Here is the first direct look at Neptune’s rings in more than 30 years

In 1989, the Voyager 2 spacecraft took the first pics of Neptune’s rings. Now, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is providing a more detailed look.

Astronomy

A protogalaxy in the Milky Way may be our galaxy’s original nucleus

Millions of ancient stars spanning about 18,000 light-years at the Milky Way’s heart are the kernel around which the galaxy grew, researchers say.

Planetary Science

Saturn’s rings and tilt might have come from one missing moon

The hypothetical moon, dubbed Chrysalis, could have helped tip the planet over before getting shredded to form the rings, researchers suggest.

Physics

Falling objects in orbit show Einstein was right — again

For more than two years, a pair of metal cylinders fell at the same rate in space, confirming the equivalence principle, a key tenet of general relativity.

Planetary Science

Passing through the Milky Way’s arms may have helped form Earth’s solid ground

Barrages of comets stirred up by the early solar system’s journey around the center of the galaxy could explain the timing of ancient rock formation.

Astronomy

Here’s the James Webb telescope’s first direct image of an exoplanet

Along with spying its first exoplanet, the James Webb telescope got its first direct spectrum of an object orbiting a star in another solar system.

Space

‘The Milky Way’ wants you to get to know your home in the universe

In a new ‘autobiography,’ the Milky Way tells its own story with the help of astrophysicist Moiya McTier.

Space

Physicists dispute a claim of detecting a black hole’s ‘photon ring’

A thin ring of light around a black hole, which would probe gravity in a new way, has been found, one team claims. Skeptics aren’t convinced.