Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Astronomy
Mini-Neptunes may become super-Earths as the exoplanets lose their atmospheres
Starlight is eroding the atmospheres of a handful of gassy exoplanets that are a bit smaller than Neptune, gradually exposing the rocky cores within.
- Space
How Mars rovers have evolved in 25 years of exploring the Red Planet
Over 25 years, remotely controlled rovers have uncovered Mars’ watery history and continue to search for evidence that life once existed there.
- Cosmology
The Windchime experiment could use gravity to hunt for dark matter ‘wind’
Though decades away, the project hopes to use an array of ultrasensitive sensors as a “wind chime,” jostled by dark matter blowing past Earth.
- Astronomy
A new James Webb telescope image reveals a galactic collision’s aftermath
Bright and dusty spokes of star formation connect the Cartwheel Galaxy’s inner and outer rings in a new image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.
- Physics
Two black holes merged despite being born far apart in space
A closer look at gravitational wave data reveals 10 overlooked mergers, including one between black holes that probably found each other late in life.
- Planetary Science
Astronauts might be able to use asteroid soil to grow crops
Researchers grew romaine lettuce, chili pepper and pink radish plants in mixtures of faux asteroid soil and peat moss.
- Space
Amateur astronomers’ images of a rare double aurora may unlock its secrets
With breathtaking videos, citizen scientists have shown researchers a new pattern of auroras that may solve the mystery behind a strange red glow.
- Astronomy
The heaviest neutron star on record is 2.35 times the mass of the sun
The measurement helps refine the dividing line between neutron stars and black holes.
- Astronomy
How James Webb Space Telescope data have already revealed surprises
A distant galaxy cluster’s violent past and the onset of star formation in the more remote universe lie buried in the observatory’s first image.
- Astronomy
Clouds in the Milky Way’s plasma bubbles came from the starry disk — and far beyond
Gas clouds in the Fermi bubbles have a wide range of chemical compositions, suggesting some may have been ripped from other galaxies.
- Astronomy
A fast radio burst’s rapid, steady beat offers a clue to its cosmic origin
Amped-up neutron stars, pairs of magnetically entangled neutron stars or magnetar quakes could explain a three-second-long train of radio blips.
- Astronomy
The most distant rotating galaxy hails from 13.3 billion years ago
Astronomers have spotted a rotating galaxy whose light comes from just 500 million years after the Big Bang.
