Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Tech
SpaceX launches and lands its first reused rocket
Aerospace company SpaceX has successfully reused a Falcon 9 rocket’s booster section for the first time.
- Planetary Science
Extreme gas loss dried out Mars, MAVEN data suggest
Over the planet’s history, the Martian atmosphere has lost 66 percent of its argon and a majority of its carbon dioxide, according to data from NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft.
- Astronomy
Asteroid in Jupiter’s orbit goes its own way
Asteroid shares Jupiter’s orbit around the sun but travels in the opposite direction as the planet.
- Astronomy
Supermassive black hole gets kicked to the galactic curb
Gravitational waves may have given a supermassive black hole a big kick, with enough energy to send it flying toward the edges of its host galaxy.
- Planetary Science
It’s time to redefine what qualifies as a planet, scientists propose
Astronomers can have their definition of a planet, but some planetary scientists plan to stick to the long-held meaning of the word.
- Planetary Science
How Pluto’s haze could explain its red spots
Pluto’s collapsing atmosphere may explain the dwarf planet’s seemingly random ruddy spots.
- Astronomy
Close pass by sun didn’t radically alter comet 67P’s landscape
Landslides on comet 67P shot plumes of dust into space, but changes like these might not radically alter the landscape of the comet.
- Astronomy
Distant galaxies lack dark matter, study suggests
Slower-than-expected velocities of stars in distant galaxies, if confirmed, could reshape astronomers’ ideas of galaxy formation and evolution.
- Astronomy
In new Cassini portraits, Saturn’s moon Pan looks like pasta
Photographs taken this week by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft provide a closer view of Saturn’s small moon Pan, which resembles ravioli.
- Astronomy
Saturn’s moon Pan looks like ravioli
Photographs taken this week by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft provide a closer view of Saturn’s small moon Pan, which resembles ravioli.
- Astronomy
Astronomers detect oldest known stardust in distant galaxy
The first stardust ever generated in the universe may have been spotted in a distant galaxy, seen as it was 600 million years after the Big Bang.
- Astronomy
Magnetism helps black holes blow off gas
The turbulent winds that swirl around black holes are probably driven by magnetic fields, scientists say.
