Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Astronomy
A shadowy birthplace may explain Jupiter’s strange chemistry
Dust that blocked sunlight caused the giant planet to form in a deep freeze, a new study suggests.
- Astronomy
Scientists spotted an electron-capture supernova for the first time
A flare that appeared in the sky in 2018 was an electron-capture supernova, a blast that can occur in stars too small to go off the usual way.
- Physics
An atomic clock that could revolutionize space travel just passed its first test
The most precise clock ever sent to space successfully operated in Earth’s orbit for over a year.
- Astronomy
This moon-sized white dwarf is the smallest ever found
A newfound white dwarf is the smallest and perhaps the most massive known, and spins around once every seven minutes.
- Physics
Gravitational waves reveal the first known mergers of a black hole and neutron star
For the first time, LIGO and Virgo have detected long-anticipated gravitational waves from a black hole merging with a neutron star.
- Physics
Dark matter may slow the rotation of the Milky Way’s central bar of stars
A method akin to studying a tree’s rings revealed the history of a slowdown of the rotating bar of stars at the heart of the Milky Way galaxy.
- Astronomy
Any aliens orbiting these 2,000 stars could spot Earth crossing the sun
Alien astronomers in those star systems could discover Earth the way we find exoplanets: by watching for a dip in starlight.
- Space
Cosmic filaments may be the biggest spinning objects in space
Filaments of dark matter and galaxies, which can stretch millions of light-years, might help astronomers figure out the origins of cosmic spin.
- Science & Society
50 years ago, UFO sightings in the United States went bust
In 1971, reports of unidentified flying objects were on the decline. Fifty years later, sightings have spiked thanks in part to pandemic lockdowns.
- Astronomy
Dust and a cold spell on Betelgeuse could explain why the giant star dimmed
Scientists had two options to explain Betelgeuse’s weird behavior in late 2019. They chose both.
- Physics
Gravitational waves confirm a black hole law predicted by Stephen Hawking
The first black hole merger detected by LIGO affirms that the surface area of a black hole can increase over time, but not decrease.
- Space
Most planets on tilted orbits pass over the poles of their suns
Nearly all of the worlds on misaligned trajectories in other solar systems orbit at nearly 90 degrees to their stars’ equators.
