Space
- Planetary Science
The Mars rover Opportunity is sleeping, not dead, NASA says
Opportunity is hunkered down in a deep sleep on Mars to ride out what’s looking to be a long dark dust storm.
- Astronomy
Readers were curious about pendulum saws, laser tweezers and more
Readers had questions about Bronze Age pendulum saws, dark matter, lazer tweezers and more.
- Planetary Science
Opportunity rover waits out a huge dust storm on Mars
NASA’s Opportunity rover is in low-power mode to preserve battery life while a vast dust storm blankets part of the Red Planet.
- Astronomy
The sun shrinks a teensy bit when it’s feeling active
The radius of the sun gets slightly smaller during periods of high solar activity, researchers say.
- Planetary Science
Curiosity finds that Mars’ methane changes with the seasons
The Curiosity rover found seasonally changing methane in Mars’ atmosphere and more signs of organic molecules in an ancient lake bed.
- Particle Physics
If real, dark fusion could help demystify this physics puzzle
Fusing dark matter particles might explain why galaxy cores have evenly distributed dark matter.
- Planetary Science
New Horizons wakes up to begin Kuiper Belt exploration
The New Horizons spacecraft just woke up to get ready for its New Year’s Day flyby of the distant space rock Ultima Thule.
- Astronomy
Take a virtual trip to an alien world
NASA’s Exoplanet Travel Bureau website lets you view what alien landscapes might look like.
- Astronomy
A neutron star crash may have spawned a black hole
The neutron collision that took the astronomical community by storm last year probably created a black hole, researchers say.
- Planetary Science
Never-before-seen dunes on Pluto spotted in New Horizons images
Images from the New Horizons spacecraft reveal dunes on Pluto — but the sand-sized grains must have had an unusual boost to get moving.
- Astronomy
Two-faced star reveals a pulsar’s surprising bulk
An ultramassive pulsar is frying its stellar companion so that the star shows two different temperatures.
- Astronomy
Astronomers scrutinized last year’s eclipse. Here’s what they’ve learned
Astronomers observed the 2017 total solar eclipse from the ground and the air, and found some never-before-seen features of the sun’s atmosphere.
