Space

Sign up for our newsletter

We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.

  1. Planetary Science

    Earth’s building blocks may have had far more water than previously thought

    Space rocks and dust from the inner solar system could have delivered enough water to account for all the H2O in the planet’s mantle.

    By
  2. Astronomy

    Check out the first-ever map of the solar corona’s magnetic field

    Solar physicists watched waves in the sun’s corona to map the whole corona’s magnetic field. Future observers could use the same technique to predict solar eruptions.

    By
  3. Astronomy

    In a first, astronomers spotted a space rock turning into a comet

    Scientists have caught a space rock in the act of shifting from a Kuiper Belt object to a comet. That process won’t be complete until 2063.

    By
  4. Astronomy

    Hubble watched a lunar eclipse to see Earth from an alien’s perspective

    Hubble observed sunlight filtering through Earth’s atmosphere during a lunar eclipse to see what a habitable exoplanet’s atmosphere might look like.

    By
  5. Space

    Paradoxically, white dwarf stars shrink as they gain mass

    Observations of thousands of white dwarf stars have confirmed a decades-old theory about the relationship between their masses and sizes.

    By
  6. Cosmology

    Scientists can’t agree on how clumpy the universe is

    A measurement of 21 million galaxies finds a level of clumpiness that disagrees with estimates based on the oldest light in the universe.

    By
  7. Planetary Science

    Jupiter’s moons could keep each other warm by raising tidal waves

    Along with gravity from the enormous planet, tidal forces between Jupiter’s moons could generate a surprising amount of heat.

    By
  8. Space

    ‘Exotic’ lightning crackles across Jupiter’s cloud tops

    Newly spotted lightning, which could form thanks to ammonia antifreeze, is weaker but more frequent than any flashes seen on Jupiter before.

    By
  9. Astronomy

    50 years ago, Mauna Kea opened for astronomy. Controversy continues

    Current plans to build a new telescope on the volcano sparked the latest conflict.

    By
  10. Cosmology

    ‘The End of Everything’ explores the ways the universe could perish

    As Katie Mack explains in The End of Everything, the universe’s demise could be disastrously violent or deadly calm.

    By
  11. Physics

    The physics of solar flares could help scientists predict imminent outbursts

    Physicists aim to improve space weather predictions by studying the physical processes that spark a solar flare.

    By
  12. Planetary Science

    The Perseverance rover caps off a month of Mars launches

    With the launch of NASA’s Perseverance rover, the rush to the Red Planet is under way.

    By