Space
- Earth
Not one, but two asteroids might have slain the dinosaurs
A craterlike structure found off West Africa’s coast might have been formed by an asteroid impact around the same time the dinosaurs went extinct.
- Planetary Science
Oort cloud comets may spin themselves to death
How icy objects from the solar system’s fringe break up as they near the sun is a long-standing mystery. One astronomer now thinks he has an answer.
- Planetary Science
Asteroid impacts might have created some of Mars’ sand
Roughly a quarter of the Red Planet’s sand is spherical bits of glass forged in violent impacts, new observations reveal.
- Space
Over time, Betelgeuse changed color. Now it’s also lost its rhythm
A recent upset to the star’s variability and ancient records that describe the red star as yellow tell a tale of a star that is no stranger to change.
- Space
How balloons could one day detect quakes on Venus
A new study opens the door for future balloon-based missions to study the geology of other worlds.
- Cosmology
Scientists mapped dark matter around galaxies in the early universe
A technique used to reveal dark matter could also shed light on a disagreement about the clumpiness of matter in the cosmos.
- Astronomy
Mini-Neptunes may become super-Earths as the exoplanets lose their atmospheres
Starlight is eroding the atmospheres of a handful of gassy exoplanets that are a bit smaller than Neptune, gradually exposing the rocky cores within.
- Space
How Mars rovers have evolved in 25 years of exploring the Red Planet
Over 25 years, remotely controlled rovers have uncovered Mars’ watery history and continue to search for evidence that life once existed there.
- Cosmology
The Windchime experiment could use gravity to hunt for dark matter ‘wind’
Though decades away, the project hopes to use an array of ultrasensitive sensors as a “wind chime,” jostled by dark matter blowing past Earth.
- Astronomy
A new James Webb telescope image reveals a galactic collision’s aftermath
Bright and dusty spokes of star formation connect the Cartwheel Galaxy’s inner and outer rings in a new image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.
- Physics
Two black holes merged despite being born far apart in space
A closer look at gravitational wave data reveals 10 overlooked mergers, including one between black holes that probably found each other late in life.
- Planetary Science
Astronauts might be able to use asteroid soil to grow crops
Researchers grew romaine lettuce, chili pepper and pink radish plants in mixtures of faux asteroid soil and peat moss.
