The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, seen orbiting the moon in this artist’s illustration, slammed into the lunar surface April 18, marking the end of its 224-day mission.
Dana Berry/NASA Ames
Atom & Cosmos
Topic Image Rail
MAGNIFYING STAR A white dwarf, the core of a dead star, contorts the light of the sunlike star it orbits, as seen in an artist’s illustration. The white dwarf’s gravity amplifies the light from its companion each time the white dwarf passes between the other star and Earth.
JPL-Caltech/NASA
A LOT LIKE HOME An Earth-sized planet capable of hosting liquid water and four other worlds orbit the cool red star Kepler-186, as seen in an artist’s illustration. The planet, found in data from the Kepler space telescope, is the smallest planet found in a star’s habitable zone.
NASA Ames, SETI Institute, JPL-Caltech
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Astronomy
News in Brief
White dwarf boosts light of stellar companion
A gravitational lens in a binary star lets astronomers weigh the core of a dead star.News
Early Mars couldn't hold liquid water long
Small rocks hit Mars 3.6 billion years ago, suggesting an early atmosphere too thin for liquid water to hang around very long. -
Cosmology
News in Brief
Galaxy’s gamma-ray glow may expose dark matter
An excess of gamma rays at the center of the Milky Way could be a signature of dark matter.News in BriefSpeed of early universe’s expansion determined
The rate known as the Hubble constant is measured with great precision for the universe of 11 billion years ago. -
Planetary Science
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Particle Physics
NewsExotic particle packs a foursome of quarks
Tetraquarks could help physicists understand the universe’s first generations of matter.Reviews & Previews
Catching Particle Fever
Interspersed with the plot of Particle Fever are artful explanatory animations and commentary by six articulate physicists. Through these characters, we learn that the Higgs is a stepping stone toward a deeper understanding of the universe. -
Exoplanets
News
Earth-sized planet found in star’s habitable zone
Astronomers have found a potentially habitable Earth-sized planet around a cool red star.News
Exoplanet water seen in new light
Astronomers used a new technique to characterize the atmosphere of a gas giant exoplanet. -
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.
