Space
- Space
This new image reveals a sunspot in unrivaled detail
An image taken by the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope — the largest solar observatory on Earth — provides the best look yet at a sunspot.
- Space
Top 10 questions I’d ask an alien from the Galactic Federation
An interview with E.T. would be a journalist’s dream, but it’s not very likely.
- Astronomy
Enormous X-ray bubbles balloon from the center of the Milky Way
Images from the the eROSITA telescope reveal X-ray–emitting blobs surrounding gamma-ray bubbles.
- Space
Hayabusa2’s asteroid dirt may hold clues to the early solar system
“We collected the treasure box,” a Japanese space scientist announced after a capsule holding samples from asteroid Ryugu safely landed on Earth.
- Space
Here are 10 of Arecibo’s coolest achievements
The now-defunct Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico made myriad discoveries over its 57-year run, including of pulsar planets and ice on Mercury.
- Space
Why losing Arecibo is a big deal for astronomy
The radio telescope at the Arecibo Observatory has collapsed, robbing scientists of a special tool for studying everything from asteroids to galaxies.
- Planetary Science
50 years ago, scientists caught their first glimpse of amino acids from outer space
In 1970, scientists detected amino acids in a meteorite. Fifty years later, a variety of chemical ingredients for life have been found in other space rocks.
- Space
December’s stunning Geminid meteor shower is born from a humble asteroid
Most meteor showers arise from comets, but the robust Geminid shower comes from an asteroid, Phaethon, which scientists are still trying to figure out.
- Planetary Science
China is about to collect the first moon rocks since the 1970s
The robotic Chang’e-5 mission, which landed on an unexplored region of the moon December 1, aims to gather samples and return them to Earth.
- Space
Astronomers spotted colliding neutron stars that may have formed a magnetar
Astronomers may have witnessed the formation of a kind of rapidly spinning, extremely magnetized stellar corpse for the first time.
- Space
Runaway stars may create the mysterious ultraviolet glow around some galaxies
Hot blue stars kicked out of their birthplace can travel thousands of light-years to their galaxies’ hinterlands, new computer simulations show.
- Astronomy
Betelgeuse went dark, but didn’t go supernova. What happened?
Astronomers are anxious to learn why Betelgeuse, one of the brightest stars in the sky, dimmed dramatically, but didn’t explode, in 2019.
