Space
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PhysicsThe Milky Way galaxy houses 100 million black holes
Astronomers are estimating the number of black holes in galaxies of all sizes.
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SpaceCassini spacecraft takes its final bow
Twenty years after it left Earth, NASA’s Cassini mission is about to end — with a crash into Saturn.
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MathMeet the people behind the film Hidden Figures
Hidden Figures a true story. So is the math and physics in the movie. Meet experts who kept the movie accurate, as well as an engineer now working at NASA.
By Gerri Miller -
PhysicsWhat scientists hope to learn from Great American Eclipse
A solar eclipse will travel across North America on August 21. Scientists will use that opportunity to learn more about our home star.
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SpaceScientists Say: Transit
When an object in space passes in front of a star and looks big enough to block out all the light, it’s an eclipse. When it’s smaller, it’s called a transit.
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PlanetsEarly Earth may have been a hot doughnut
Synestia is the name some scientists are giving to the smooshed shape Earth might have developed after undergoing a violent cosmic smashup early in its infancy.
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AnimalsThis tiny animal is apocalypse-proof
Microscopic animals called water bears can survive nearly any kind of apocalypse, from asteroids and nuclear war to exploding stars.
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SpaceHalf the Milky Way may be stolen material
A galaxy may import up to half of its atoms from other celestial bodies. That suggests much of our Milky Way has foreign origins, new simulations suggest.
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PlanetsWhat the Curiosity rover has learned about Mars so far
Scientists take stock of what the Curiosity rover has learned after five years on Mars — and what else it may turn up in the next year or so.
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PlanetsEarly solar system may have slung giant mud balls
The first asteroids may have been great balls of mud. That could solve some puzzling traits of meteorites.
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SpaceNewfound stars rank as farthest and one of the smallest
Astronomers have found two stars for the record books — the most distant ever observed and one of the tiniest now known.
By Emily Conover and Lisa Grossman -
SpaceRobot grippers imitate gecko feet to help nab space junk
NASA is testing robotic, gecko-inspired gripper hands that might one day help clean up space junk.