Space
- Astronomy
New data show how quickly light pollution is obscuring the night sky
Tens of thousands of observations from citizen scientists spanning a decade show that the night sky is getting about 10 percent brighter every year.
- Planetary Science
Enceladus is blanketed in a thick layer of snow
Pits on the Saturnian moon reveal the surprising depth of the satellite’s snow, suggesting its plume was more active in the past.
- Astronomy
The James Webb telescope found ‘Green Pea’ galaxies in the early universe
The James Webb telescope spotted tiny “green” galaxies that might have helped trigger a dramatic cosmic makeover more than 13 billion years ago.
- Planetary Science
Methylated gases could be an unambiguous indicator of alien life
On Earth, methylated gases are produced by organisms cleaning up their environment — and by little else. The same might be true on some exoplanets.
- Physics
We could get messages back from spacecraft sent through a wormhole
A simulation of a probe sent to the other side of a wormhole shows it could send speedy messages back before the hole closes and the probe is lost.
- Space
Io may have an underworld magma ocean or a hot metal heart
New calculations support dueling ideas for what powers the ubiquitous volcanoes on the hellish surface of Jupiter’s innermost moon.
- Space
Humans haven’t set foot on the moon in 50 years. That may soon change
In 1972, the era of crewed missions to the moon came to an end. Fifty years later, a new one has begun.
- Life
Here are 5 record-breaking science discoveries from 2022
The earliest surgery, fastest supercomputer and biggest single-celled bacteria were some of this year’s top science superlatives.
- Astronomy
The James Webb Space Telescope wasn’t the only big space news in 2022
DART crashed into an asteroid, Artemis went to the moon and we got a pic of our galaxy’s monstrous black hole. Space was a busy place this year.
- Astronomy
The James Webb telescope is getting glimpses of small, far-off planets
Hints of one exoplanet atmosphere’s chemical makeup and the discovery of a planet orbiting another star are two of the telescope’s early successes.
- Astronomy
The first planet found by the Kepler space telescope is doomed
The exoplanet dubbed Kepler 1658b is spiraling toward its host star and will meet a fiery death in less than 3 million years.
- Planetary Science
The last vital ingredient for life has been discovered on Enceladus
The underground ocean on Saturn’s icy moon may contain phosphorus in concentrations thousands of times greater than those found in Earth’s ocean.
