Space

Space

Let’s learn about the hunt for alien life

Finding any extraterrestrials, from advanced alien civilizations to simple microbes, would be an unmatched discovery.

Space

Explainer: Calculating a star’s age

Scientists can figure out a star's mass or composition pretty easily. Determining how old that star is, however, is a lot harder.

Space

Let’s learn about auroras

A gust of charged particles from the sun called the solar wind lights up auroras on Earth — and on other planets.

Planets

NASA’s Perseverance rover grabbed its first Martian rocks

Two finger-sized pieces of stone drilled from a basalt rock are the first bits of Mars ready to be brought to Earth.

Planets

Pluto is no longer a planet — or is it?

In the 15 years since Pluto lost its status as a planet, some scientists continue to use whatever definition works best for them.

Space

Here’s an easier new way to weigh a black hole

The timing of flickers in the gas and dust of a black hole’s accretion disk correlates to its mass, a new study finds.

Earth

Let’s learn about meteor showers

Meteor showers happen when Earth’s orbit passes through trails of debris left behind by comets or asteroids.

Planets

Jupiter’s intense auroras heat up its atmosphere

Jupiter’s hotter-than-expected upper atmosphere may be warmed by charged particles slamming into the air above the poles.

Space

Explainer: How auroras light up the sky

The northern and southern lights are considered natural wonders of the world. Here’s how these and related splendid sky glows form.

Space

Let’s learn about dark matter

Dark matter is only detectable by the gravitational pull it exerts on visible objects, like stars and galaxies.

Space

This image may be the first look at exomoons in the making

These observations offer some of the best evidence yet that planets around other stars have moons, or exomoons.

Space

Born in deep shadows? That could explain Jupiter’s strange makeup

Dust that blocked sunlight might have caused the gas giant to form in a deep freeze, a new study suggests.