Space

Chemistry

Asteroid impacts may have sparked life on Earth

The energy produced by comets and asteroids that collide with Earth may have been strong enough to start life.

Physics

Light robs galaxy of star-making gas

Stars form from clouds of hydrogen and other gases. Astronomers have found the light from newborn stars can drive off that gas. That action can starve a galaxy of the ingredients needed to make more stars.

Earth

Earth’s most common mineral finally gets a name

A half-century search for samples of Earth’s most abundant mineral has ended. This stuff forms only deep in the rocky layer surrounding our planet’s core. But scientists found bits of it in a meteorite that fell in 1879. And finally, this bridgmanite gets a name.

Planets

Comet probe may shed light on Earth’s past

Scientists spent more than two decades setting up Philae’s months-long investigation of a comet. What they hope to learn could shed light on Earth’s childhood — and the source of its water. But that’s if problems with Philae’s landing don’t cut the robot’s life span.

Planets

Picture This: Falling to a comet

After a more than decade-long ride, a robotic lander has left its spacecraft and floated down onto the surface of a comet. From there it should begin scouting for hints at how our solar system formed.

Physics

Escape from a lab-built black hole

In the 1970s, physicist Stephen Hawking suggested that some particles could escape a black hole. An experiment now shows how, using a lab-made black hole ‘made’ from sound.

Chemistry

Space cloud may hold clue to life’s origins

Scientists probing a cloud of dust and gas some 26,000 light-years away found a chemical with a structure resembling molecules critical for all life on Earth.

Planets

Distant world hosts water

One measure of an extraterrestrial world’s potential for supporting life is the presence of water. The Neptune-size HAT-P-11b fits that criterion.

Planets

This moon’s surface slides, just like Earth’s

Europa is one of Jupiter’s giant, icy moons. Scientists say it has plate tectonics, which means its surface is covered by moving, giant slabs.

Planets

Asteroids: A stepping stone to Mars?

NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission, designed to capture and move an asteroid, may be a step toward getting to Mars. But not everyone agrees it's the right step.

Planets

Asteroids: Avoiding an Earthly smashup

Any of nearly 1,500 asteroids could hit Earth. Experts want to learn more about the space rocks — and maybe even bump them off course.

Planets

Explainer: What are asteroids?

Leftovers from the creation of the solar system, asteroids are space rocks that orbit the sun. Let’s hope the big ones never become meteorites.