SPEED TEST A neutrino blasted from a bright galaxy known as a blazar (illustrated) along with a flare of light reveals that neutrinos travel at roughly the speed of light.
ESA, NASA, Paolo Padovani/AVO project
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Magazine
In the July 21 SN: Portraits of a galaxy’s ecosystem, sleep and Alzheimer’s, poliovirus vs. glioblastoma, Parker Solar Probe previewed, mind-reading robots, a new ancient gibbon and more.
Atom & Cosmos
Topic Image Rail
SHARP EYES A new strategy at the Very Large Telescope in Chile lets the ground-based observatory take visible light images of Neptune (left) that rival those from the Hubble Space Telescope (right) in clarity.
ESO, P. Weilbacher/AIP, NASA, ESA, M.H. Wong and J. Tollefson/UC Berkeley
NEW MOON, I SAW YOU ORBIT ALONE Of 12 recently discovered Jovian moons (illustrated in bold orange, blue and green), one orbits in the opposite direction of its neighbors (arrows show orbit direction). Four moons discovered by Galileo are also shown (purple).
Roberto Molar Candanosa/Carnegie Institution for Science
Atom & Cosmos
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Astronomy
News in Brief
Move over, Hubble. This sharp pic of Neptune was taken from Earth
A new strategy at the Very Large Telescope lets astronomers take space telescope–quality pictures from the ground.Feature
The ecosystem that controls a galaxy’s future is coming into focus
An invisible cloak called the circumgalactic medium controls a galaxy’s life and death. -
Cosmology
News in Brief
These stars may have been born only 250 million years after the Big Bang
Scientists find evidence that stars were forming just 250 million years after the universe was born.Reviews & Previews
Why the Nobel Prize might need a makeover
In Losing the Nobel Prize, astrophysicist Brian Keating discusses the downsides of science’s top honor. -
Planetary Science
News
Jupiter has 12 more moons than we knew about — and one is bizarre
Astronomers found a dozen previously unknown moons of Jupiter, and one may be a remnant of a larger moon that was all but ground to dust.News in Brief
First global maps of Pluto and Charon show the worlds’ highs and lows
New charts of Pluto and its moon Charon, compiled using New Horizons’ data, reveal high peaks, deep depressions and strange ridges. -
Particle Physics
News in Brief
One particle’s trek suggests that ‘spacetime foam’ doesn’t slow neutrinos
Neutrinos and light travel at essentially the same speed, as predicted.50 Years Ago
50 years ago, neutrinos ghosted scientists
In the last half-century, neutrino detectors have spotted particles cast out by the sun, supernova 1987A and a supermassive black hole. -
Exoplanets
News in Brief
Astronomers snap the first baby pictures of a planet
New telescope images give the clearest view of an exoplanet embryo yet.News in Brief
Swirling gases reveal baby planets in a young star’s disk
A new technique pinpointed three planets forming around a young star about 330 light-years from Earth. -
Astrobiology
News
Lasers squeezed iron to mimic the conditions of exoplanet cores
In the first experiment to measure what exoplanets might be like on the inside, scientists hit iron with 176 lasers at once.News
Americans would welcome alien life rather than fear it
Americans would probably take the discovery of extraterrestrial microbes pretty well.
