Space
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Astronomy
Next to its solar twins, the sun stands out
Our sun has subtly different chemistry from its peers, which may help pinpoint stars with systems like our own.
- Astronomy
How the Parker probe was built to survive close encounters with the sun
Scientists had to get creative in testing the technology for the Parker Solar Probe, using huge mirrors, dust tunnels and even reams of paper.
- Planetary Science
What does Mars’ lake mean for the search for life on the Red Planet?
A lake spotted hiding under Martian ice could support life, but finding out if anything lives there could be challenging.
- Physics
A star orbiting a black hole shows Einstein got gravity right — again
For the first time, general relativity has been confirmed in the region near a supermassive black hole.
- Planetary Science
Mars (probably) has a lake of liquid water
A 15-year-old Mars orbiter has spotted signs of a salty lake beneath the Red Planet’s south polar ice sheets.
- Physics
The Planck satellite’s picture of the infant universe gets its last tweaks
Scientists have released the last big result from the cosmic microwave background experiment Planck.
- Particle Physics
One particle’s trek suggests that ‘spacetime foam’ doesn’t slow neutrinos
Neutrinos and light travel at essentially the same speed, as predicted.
- Astronomy
Move over, Hubble. This sharp pic of Neptune was taken from Earth
A new strategy at the Very Large Telescope lets astronomers take space telescope–quality pictures from the ground.
- Planetary Science
Jupiter has 12 more moons than we knew about — and one is bizarre
Astronomers found a dozen previously unknown moons of Jupiter, and one may be a remnant of a larger moon that was all but ground to dust.
- Planetary Science
First global maps of Pluto and Charon show the worlds’ highs and lows
New charts of Pluto and its moon Charon, compiled using New Horizons’ data, reveal high peaks, deep depressions and strange ridges.
- Particle Physics
50 years ago, neutrinos ghosted scientists
In the last half-century, neutrino detectors have spotted particles cast out by the sun, supernova 1987A and a supermassive black hole.
- Particle Physics
A high-energy neutrino has been traced to its galactic birthplace
The high-energy particle was born in a blazar 4 billion light-years away, scientists report.
