Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Space
NASA declares MAVEN, its Mars atmosphere orbiter, dead
Over more than a decade at Mars, the orbiter revealed how the solar wind strips away the planet’s atmosphere — and why the world lost its water.
- Astronomy
Even quiet black holes create winds, new Milky Way observations reveal
New observations suggest the supermassive black hole at the Milky Way’s core is blowing gas away from the central behemoth.
- Planetary Science
Europa may not vent water into space after all
The debate could reopen in 2030 when NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft gets the closest view of the icy moon’s surface.
- Space
Solar flares may show predictable warning signs hours before erupting
Scientists spotted patterns hours before a major solar flare, a discovery that could help forecast dangerous eruptions.
- Planetary Science
An ancient moonpocalypse may explain Neptune’s odd moon Nereid
Neptune’s oddball moon Nereid may be the sole remnant of an earlier system, formed near the planet rather than being pulled in from afar.
- Physics
Water drops on soap bubble films act like merging galaxies
Water droplets on soap films orbited and merged like colliding galaxies, a technique that could help scientists study the cosmos.
- Astronomy
Astronomers may have found a record-breaking pair of black holes
At some 60 billion times the mass of the sun, this dark void could be home to a pair of black holes that are due for a cosmic collision.
- Particle Physics
To understand black holes, physicists turn to a mathematical ‘Rosetta stone’
A link between particle physics and gravity equations, called the double copy, applies to Hawking radiation, creating a new way into black hole puzzles.
- Quantum Physics
A grapefruit-sized quantum device mapped Earth’s magnetic field from space
On the International Space Station, a cube holding a diamond-based sensor revealed the potential for quantum magnetometers.
- Planetary Science
Going to space? Always, always pack a camera
Planetary scientist Candice Hansen-Koharcheck championed the importance of space imagery. Her legacy lives on in every pixel that comes back to Earth.
- Space
Space junk falls back to Earth faster as sunspot numbers climb
A new study links the sun's 11-year cycle to accelerated orbital loss, with debris falling faster once sunspot numbers near their cycle peak.
- Planetary Science
A small object past Pluto may have a thin atmosphere
A brief stellar eclipse suggests the tiny 2002 XV93 has a thin atmosphere — a first for any solar system body farther from the sun than Pluto.
