Space

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We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

More Stories in Space

  1. Planetary Science

    Venus’ tectonics may be actively reshaping its surface

    Circular landforms speckling the Venusian surface may be the work of tectonic activity.

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  2. Space

    A passing star could fling Earth out of orbit

    Simulations show that the star's tug could send Mercury, Venus or Mars crashing into Earth — or let Jupiter eject our world from the solar system.

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  3. Space

    Perseverance takes the first picture of a visible Martian aurora

    A faint yet visible Martian aurora is the first instance of the phenomenon spotted from another planet's surface.

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  4. Space

    A Soviet spacecraft has returned to Earth

    Kosmos 482 launched for Venus in 1972 but never left Earth orbit. The spacecraft finally lost enough energy that it couldn't fight gravity anymore.

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  5. Astronomy

    A gas cloud 5,500 times as massive as the sun lurks nearby

    At 300 light-years away, the interstellar cloud is the closest of its kind ever found to Earth and the largest apparent single structure in the sky.

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  6. Space

    See how the Hubble Space Telescope is still revolutionizing astronomy

    Hubble is still going strong 35 years after it was launched into space. Celebrate its anniversary with some out-of-this-world images.

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  7. Astronomy

    A gas clump in the Milky Way’s neighborhood might be a ‘dark galaxy’

    A blob of gas seen outside the Milky Way could be a type of starless, dark matter–dominated galaxy. Some scientists are skeptical.

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  8. Astronomy

    A claimed hint of alien life whips up spirited debate

    Astronomers have a lot of thoughts about the latest paper claiming we’ve found the strongest hints of alien life yet on the distant planet K2 18b.

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  9. Space

    A NASA rover finally found Mars’ missing carbon

    The Curiosity rover identified hidden caches of the mineral siderite, which could help explain why Mars lost its habitable climate.

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