TIGHT FIT The star Kepler 11 (illustrated) is home to six planets, five of which would fit inside the orbit of Mercury. Most solar systems might form with planets squished even closer together.
Tim Pyle/NASA
Atom & Cosmos
Topic Image Rail
Two bright patches on the dwarf planet Ceres, seen in this image from the Dawn spacecraft, might result from ice volcanoes.
JPL-Caltech/NASA, UCLA, MPS, DLR, IDA
LARGER THAN IT LOOKS Gas swirls around a 12-billion-solar-mass black hole (illustrated), the most massive one known in the early universe.
Zhaoyu Li/Shanghai Astronomical Observatory
Atom & Cosmos
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Astronomy
The –est
Monster black hole lurks in the early universe
A black hole weighing the same as 12 billion suns is the most massive one known in the early universe.Science TickerPair of stars buzzed the solar system 70,000 years ago
Astronomers discover a binary system that made the closest known flyby of the sun. -
Cosmology
News
The past according to Planck: Cosmologists got a lot right
New results from the Planck satellite largely support cosmologists’ theories, but leave the door open for new discoveries.News
Dust erases evidence for gravity wave detection
The claimed detection of primordial gravitational waves does not hold up after taking into account galactic dust, a new analysis concludes. -
Planetary Science
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Particle Physics
Science TickerNew particle may be made of four quarks
A newly discovered particle may be comprised of four quarks, a new study posits.Feature
Year in review: Neutrinos leave tracks in ice
The IceCube experiment has started to pinpoint the birthplaces of some high-energy neutrinos. -
Exoplanets
News
Planet collisions may have rearranged crowded solar systems
Solar systems discovered by Kepler with just one or two worlds may be remnants of planet families that were once far more crowded.Firsts
Giant rings encircle young exoplanet
Stretching 90 million kilometers from their center, 37 stripes of dust around exoplanet were probably crafted by moons. -
Astrobiology
NewsExoplanet oxygen may not signal alien life
Oxygen in an exoplanet atmosphere may come from water and ultraviolet light, not alien life.Reviews & Previews
Making the most of zero gravity
Astronaut and author Chris Hadfield discusses life in, and after, space.
