Space
We summarize the week's science breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Space
Famous Martian meteorite younger than thought
The famous fragment of Mars, once proposed to hold signs of extraterrestrial life, is still pretty old. But the rock appears to have formed about 400 million years later than earlier analyses indicated.
- Space
Stormy weather on Saturn
Astronomers have for the first time glimpsed lightning storms on Saturn.
- Space
Backward planets may have flipped into place
Reversed orbits among ‘hot Jupiters’ decreases chance of Earthlike neighbors.
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- Space
Newfound neighbor to solar system is a cool slacker
Researchers have found the closest brown dwarf to Earth and the coolest yet seen, raising the possibility that the nearest starlike body to the solar system may be a brown dwarf rather than a star.
- Space
Cosmic magnetic field strength measured
Hints of weak magnetism between galaxies narrows options for how the early universe got its fields.
- Planetary Science
Warmth in the dark age
Lower reflectivity kept Earth from freezing under a fainter young sun.
- Planetary Science
Signs of giant comet impacts found in cores
An uptick in ammonium may be evidence of a 50-billion-ton strike at the end of the ice age.
- Space
Cosmic telephoto lens shows intense, early star formation
A recently discovered galaxy gives a detailed view of stellar birth in the young universe.
- Space
This exoplanet is so cool
A satellite has found the first temperate planet outside the solar system that can be studied in detail.
- Space
Spacecraft takes express tour of Martian moon
New images and gravity data reveal details about the origin and composition of Phobos.
- Space
Magnetic flows cause sunspot lows, study shows
Observations of gas flows on the solar surface may explain why the sun recently had such a prolonged case of the doldrums; could lead to more accurate predictions for the duration and severity of future solar cycles.
