Astronomy
- Astronomy
TESS has found the first-ever ‘ultrahot Neptune’
NASA’s TESS telescope has spotted a world that could be a bridge between other types of exoplanets: hot Jupiters and scorched Earths.
- Astronomy
In a first, physicists re-created the sun’s spiraling solar wind in a lab
Some of the sun’s fundamental physics have been re-created with plasma inside a vacuum chamber
- Astronomy
NASA’s Chandra X-ray telescope celebrates 20 years in space
The U.S. space agency has released new images for the Chandra X-ray Observatory’s 20th birthday.
- Cosmology
Scientists still can’t agree on the universe’s expansion rate
A mismatch in measurements of how fast the universe is expanding might not be real, a study hints.
- Astronomy
Gaps in gas disks around stars may not always mark newborn planets
New research has prompted a rethink of the theory that gaps in planet-forming disks around young stars mark spaces where planets are being created.
- Planetary Science
How NASA has kept Apollo moon rocks safe from contamination for 50 years
NASA wouldn’t let our reporter touch the Apollo moon rocks. Here’s why that’s a good thing.
- Astronomy
Moons that escape their planets could become ‘ploonets’
If giant planets in other star systems lose their moons, the freed objects could become “ploonets,” and current telescopes may be able to find them.
- Ecosystems
Moonlight shapes how some animals move, grow and even sing
The moon’s light influences lion prey behavior, dung beetle navigation, fish growth, mass migrations and birdsong.
- Astronomy
After all this time, the moon still manages to surprise us
Editor in Chief Nancy Shute discusses 50 years of lunar science.
- Astronomy
How the 2019 eclipse will differ from 2017’s — and what that means for science
This year’s total solar eclipse is visible late in the day from a relatively small slice of South America.
- Astronomy
The earliest known galaxy merger occurred shortly after the Big Bang
Telescopes show two distant blobs of stars and gas swirling around each other in the young universe.
- Astronomy
In a first, telescopes tracked a lone fast radio burst to a faraway galaxy
First-time observations suggest that the cause of one-time fast radio bursts is different from what triggers repeatedly flashing radio bursts.
