Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Planetary Science
Planets with hydrogen-rich atmospheres could harbor life
Lab experiments show yeast and E. coli survive and reproduce in hydrogen gas, suggesting new environments to seek alien life.
- Astronomy
The sun is less magnetically active than similar stars, and we don’t know why
Why our star seems so different from its stellar kin is a mystery.
- Planetary Science
This is the most comprehensive map of the moon’s geology yet
Cartographers merged Apollo-era maps and modern lunar observations to into a new geologic map of the moon.
- Astronomy
A century ago, astronomy’s Great Debate foreshadowed today’s view of the universe
The argument between Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis 100 years ago was ultimately settled by Edwin Hubble.
- Astronomy
High-speed gas collisions prevent star birth in galaxies’ bars
The spiral galaxy NGC 1300 makes few if any stars in its bright bar. Simulations suggest gas clouds colliding at high speed stunt star formation.
- Space
Interstellar comet Borisov has an unexpected amount of carbon monoxide
The second known visitor from outside the solar system has three times as much CO relative to H2O than any comet seen in the inner solar system.
- Planetary Science
Unlike Earth, the gases in Venus’ atmosphere aren’t uniformly mixed
Measurements of Venus’ atmospheric nitrogen show that a planet’s upper atmosphere doesn’t necessarily match the lower atmosphere.
- Physics
Gravitational waves have revealed the first unevenly sized black hole pair
For the first time, LIGO and Virgo scientists spotted gravitational waves produced when one big black hole merged with a smaller one.
- Space
A weird stellar explosion may have caused the brightest supernova yet seen
Astronomers may have spotted the first known example of a rare “pulsational pair-instability” supernova.
- Astronomy
New images of the sun reveal superfine threads of glowing plasma
Snapshots from NASA’s High-Resolution Coronal Imager show thin filaments of plasma not seen before in the sun’s outer atmosphere.
- Physics
A star orbiting the Milky Way’s giant black hole confirms Einstein was right
An oddity previously seen in Mercury’s orbit has been spotted in a star circling the supermassive black hole at the Milky Way’s center.
- Space
‘Spacefarers’ predicts how space colonization will happen
In Spacefarers, Christopher Wanjek provides an optimistic yet realistic view on how humans might colonize the rest of our solar system.
