Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Astronomy
Neptune-like worlds could become habitable
Mini-Neptunes can drift toward their stars and lose their atmospheres, leaving behind ice-rich rocky cores that can become watery worlds.
- Astronomy
Oldest solar system unearthed by Kepler
Five rocky planets orbit the 11.2-billion-year-old star Kepler 444, suggesting that Earth-sized worlds formed in the early universe.
- Quantum Physics
Top 10 scientific mysteries for the 21st century
Solving the Top 10 scientific mysteries facing the 21st century will not be all fun but could be mostly games.
- Planetary Science
Large asteroid buzzes Earth
Asteroid 2004 BL86 swings by Earth today at three times the distance to the moon, the closest asteroid encounter until 2027.
- Planetary Science
Decades-old idea brought to fruition: a mission to Mercury
In 1965, engineers proposed sending a spacecraft to Mercury with help from another planet’s gravity – a technique now used in many interplanetary missions.
- Physics
How blueshift might beat redshift
Even though the expanding universe makes light redder, light emitted by collapsing stars and dust clouds could appear unusually blue.
- Planetary Science
Rosetta reveals a complex comet
Rosetta finds diverse landscapes on comet 67P, which could provide researchers with clues about how the solar system formed.
- Planetary Science
Young asteroids generated long-lasting magnetism
Pockets of iron and nickel in meteorites suggest that asteroids in the early solar system produced magnetic fields for much longer than once thought.
- Planetary Science
Mars orbiter locates lost Beagle 2 lander
The Beagle 2 lander, missing since 2003, has been found on the surface of the Red Planet in images from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
- Astronomy
Rocky planets around cool stars may have Earthlike climates
Small, rocky planets that sit close to cool stars might be able to keep spinning, creating conditions hospitable to life.
- Astronomy
Large rocky planets excel at ocean building
Rocky planets a few times as massive as Earth may build deeper oceans – and sustain them for longer – than smaller worlds.
- Astronomy
Hubble telescope captures panorama of Andromeda galaxy
The Hubble Space Telescope captured a panoramic mosaic of the closest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way, mapping the light from over 100 million stars.
