Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Planetary Science
Comet lander Philae phones home
The European Space Agency has received signals for its comet lander Philae, which touched down on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in November and has been in hibernation since.
- Planetary Science
Rendezvous with Pluto
Earth will get its first good look at Pluto and its five known moons when New Horizons sails past on July 14.
- Planetary Science
Saturn’s widest ring measured
Saturn has an invisible belt that's nearly 270 times as wide as the giant planet, researchers report.
- Astronomy
Some of sun’s magnetic fields may act more like forests
A swaying forest of mangrovelike magnetic fields on the sun could be the answer to why the solar atmosphere is millions of degrees hotter than the surface.
- Planetary Science
WISE satellite measures girth of Saturn’s widest ring
Saturn’s dark, outermost ring is about 270 times as wide as the planet itself.
- Planetary Science
Cassini gets last look at Saturn’s spongy satellite Hyperion
The Cassini spacecraft buzzed Saturn’s spongy moon Hyperion for the final time and sent back more pictures of this odd little satellite.
- Planetary Science
Pluto’s four littlest moons probably born in a crash
On the eve of the arrival of the New Horizons spacecraft, Pluto’s tiny moons hint at a common origin.
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- Astronomy
Cosmic superlens gives telescopes a boost
A map of galaxy cluster Abell 2744 unveils how gravity magnifies and smears images of far more distant galaxies.
- Astronomy
In another universe, free-range planets could host life
If other universes exist, then those with denser galaxies might harbor a larger fraction of habitable worlds.
- Planetary Science
NASA picks nine instruments for future mission to Europa
NASA has selected nine instruments to fly on a future spacecraft to Jupiter’s ice-covered moon Europa.
- Astronomy
Brightest galaxy discovered
The brightest known galaxy is about 350 trillion times as bright as the sun, and a supermassive black hole is to blame.
