Space

Space

A cyclone has been spotted swirling over Uranus’ north pole for the first time

Voyager 2 hinted at a cyclone at Uranus’ south pole. Now Earth-based observations give the first direct evidence of a storm at the ice giant’s north pole.

Planetary Science

JWST captured Enceladus’ plume spraying water nearly 10,000 kilometers into space

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope reveals the rate at which Saturn’s moon Enceladus spews water and where that water ends up.

Neuroscience

Brain cavities that swell in space may need at least 3 years to recover

MRI scans of astronauts show that duration in space and time between flights affect how much the brain’s fluid-filled cavities expand during missions.

Astronomy

The Parker Solar Probe may have spotted the origin of high-speed solar winds

Kinks in the magnetic fields near the surface of the sun appear to be the cause of fast-moving flows in the solar wind.

Astronomy

A simulation of a dying star shows how it could create gravitational waves

Massive jets and an expanding cocoon of debris from a collapsing star could be a source of never-before-seen ripples in spacetime.

Astronomy

Weird black holes may hold secrets of the early universe

Big black holes in little galaxies, rogue black holes and other behemoths could offer clues to cosmic evolution.

Planetary Science

A quake on Mars showed its crust is thicker than Earth’s

Seismic data from NASA’s Insight lander reveal the crust is roughly 50 kilometers thick, with the northern crust being thinner than the south’s.

Planetary Science

Jupiter’s lightning bolts contort the same way as Earth’s

Jovian lightning extends in jagged steps as it does on Earth, data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft suggest. The finding might aid the search for life.

Planetary Science

Saturn’s rings may be no more than 400 million years old

An analysis of data from NASA’s defunct Cassini probe suggests Saturn's rings materialized more than 100 million years after trilobites appeared on Earth.

Astronomy

The first radiation belt outside the solar system has been spotted

Encircling a Jupiter-sized body about 18 light-years from Earth, the radiation belt is 10 million times as bright as the ones around Jupiter.

Space

50 years ago, cosmic rays may have caused Apollo astronauts to see lights

Apollo astronauts reported seeing flashes of light where there were none. Fifty years later, the flashes still mess with modern astronauts’ vision.

Astronomy

A reappearing supernova offers a new measure of the universe’s expansion

Supernova Refsdal blew up once but burst into view at least five times. The timing of its appearances provides clues to how fast the universe is growing.