Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Planetary Science
This star offers the earliest peek at the birth of a planetary system like ours
A young sunlike star called HOPS 315 seems to host a swirling disk of gas giving rise to minerals that kick-start the planet formation process.
- Space
In a first, an image shows a dying star exploded twice to become a supernova
The image offers the first evidence for a previously unconfirmed origin story of type 1a supernovas.
- Space
The biggest black hole smashup ever detected challenges physics theories
Gravitational waves spotted by LIGO reveal two black holes, 140 and 100 times the mass of the sun, merged to become a 225 solar mass behemoth.
- Space
A newly discovered interstellar object might predate the solar system
3I/ATLAS might be over 7 billion years old, a new study reports, which would make it the oldest comet known. But experts caution we need more data.
- Planetary Science
New Horizons visited Pluto 10 years ago. We’re still learning from it
Over the past decade, researchers have been puzzling through Pluto’s mysteries. Meanwhile, the New Horizons probe heads for interstellar space.
- Earth
An ancient Earth impact could help in the search for Martian life
Strange cone-shaped rocks led scientists to the hidden remains of one of Earth’s oldest asteroid impacts. It could help us find fossil life on Mars.
- Space
A third visitor from another star is hurtling through the solar system
Scientists have found a new interstellar object whizzing toward the sun.
- Astronomy
Nearly half of the universe’s ordinary matter was uncharted, until now
Two studies fill in gaps about the cosmos’s ordinary matter. One maps it all, even the “missing matter.” The other details one of its hiding spots.
- Life
A 3-D printed, plastic beaker could help algae grow on Mars
Algae grown under Mars-like conditions could make bioplastic building materials for structures to harbor life in space.
- Astronomy
A rare chance to see two exploding stars is happening in the southern sky
Exploding stars V462 Lupi and V572 Velorum are best seen from the Southern Hemisphere. One has been spotted from the United States.
- Life
A barrage of radiation couldn’t kill this hardy life-form
A type of lichen was able to survive extreme UV radiation in the lab, suggesting that ozone protection might not be required for life on exoplanets.
- Astronomy
Mysterious ‘little red dot’ galaxies have a possible origin story
Compact ruddy galaxies seen by the James Webb telescope confound astronomers. Having very little spin at birth may explain the galaxies’ small sizes.
