Space

  1. A volcano erupts (blue) on Jupiter’s innermost moon, Io, in this picture from NASA’s Galileo spacecraft.
    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.

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  2. Apollo astronaut Harrison “Jack” Schmitt collects moon samples
    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.

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  3. Human skeleton from waist down showing earliest surgery
    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.

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  4. A night photo of the Artemis I rocket launching
    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.

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  5. An illustration of exoplanet GJ 1214b and its star.
    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.

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  6. illustration of a planet spiraling into its star
    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.

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  7. Enceladus, the moon of Saturn, shown partly illuminated against the backdrop of space
    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.

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  8. Regions of sky, shown as rectangles, observed by JWST, against a black backdrop
    Astronomy

    How the James Webb telescope’s glances back in time are reshaping cosmology

    The observatory has found dozens of galaxies from less than 550 million years after the Big Bang, suggesting galaxies formed faster than once thought.

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  9. The surface of Jupiter's moon Europa, showing cracks and ridges in the ice
    Space

    NASA’s Juno spacecraft’s mission has lasted longer than expected

    NASA’s Juno spacecraft continues to send back revealing new close-ups of Jupiter and its closest moons.

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  10. A photo of NASA’s Perseverance rover (whose wheel is seen at left) exploring Mars’ dusty Jezero crater on November 5.
    Planetary Science

    NASA’s Perseverance rover captured the sound of a dust devil on Mars

    A whirlwind swept over Perseverance while its microphone was on, capturing the sound of dust grains hitting the mic or the NASA rover’s chassis.

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  11. the uncrewed space capsule Orion floating in the Pacific Ocean, with round red airbags atop it as a crew in a boat in the background retrieves the capsule
    Space

    Artemis 1’s Orion capsule returned safely to Earth. What’s next?

    The first test flight in NASA’s return to the moon Artemis program ended well with the uncrewed capsule splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.

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  12. An illustration of a pair of compact stars merging (bright dots in the center) and emitting jets of radiation (green and purple beams)
    Astronomy

    A bizarre gamma-ray burst breaks the rules for these cosmic eruptions

    The 50-second gamma-ray burst is the first that unambiguously breaks the rule that long bursts usually come from supernovas.

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