Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Space
Icy asteroids
New observations are further eroding the difference between asteroids and comets.
- Space
Wet, almost, all over
The Red Planet held much more water than previously thought, and the wet environments had the potential to support life early in the solar system’s history, a new study suggests.
- Space
Ceres may be an asteroid impersonator
The largest asteroid in the solar system may not be an asteroid at all but a cometlike relative of Pluto that came in from the cold several billion years ago.
- Space
Central star is no dim bulb
Observing the dusty center of the Milky Way, astronomers have the second brightest star known in the galaxy
- Space
Saturn’s moon may host an ocean
The Cassini spacecraft has found what may be the strongest evidence yet that Saturn's tiny moon Enceladus has an ocean beneath its icy surface.
- Space
An early record-breaker
A remote galaxy is churning out up to 4,000 newborn stars a year, making it the star-forming champ among galaxies in the early universe.
- Planetary Science
Lunar liquid
A new analysis of moon rocks has revealed that the moon isn’t as bone dry as researchers had thought, whetting the appetite of scientists who seek a deeper understanding of how Earth’s only natural satellite arose and evolved.
- Space
Messages from Mercury
Data collected by the MESSENGER spacecraft as it flew past Mercury last January has revealed the origin of the planet’s magnetic field, discovered evidence of early volcanic activity and provided a first look at the planet’s surface composition.
- Astronomy
Postcards from the edge
New data about the edge of the solar system offer surprises about how the sun interacts with our galaxy.
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- Astronomy
Citizen Astronomy
Astronomers have found big benefits from recruiting the public to lend their eyes and image-processing prowess
- Astronomy
Too much information in the Odyssey
A controversial interpretation of passages from the Odyssey suggests that Homer knew much more about planetary motions than historians thought possible.
