Stardust trapped in Antarctic ice reveals tens of thousands of years of solar system’s past

When you think of outer space, you’re likely picturing stars, planets and moons. But much of space is filled with clouds of gas, plasma and stardust—known as interstellar clouds.

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Study identifies geysers the JUICE mission could explore on Ganymede

Ganymede, Jupiter’s largest moon, is also the solar system’s largest satellite, even larger than the planet Mercury. It is also the only celestial body aside from Earth (and the gas giants) to have an intrinsic magnetic field. As if this didn’t make the icy body interesting enough, scientists also predict that it has a massive […]

Gravitational wave detectors can now ‘autotune’ signals to harmonize the heavens

Gravitational wave researchers working on the world’s most sensitive scientific instruments have found a way to tune their detectors using a process akin to the pitch-correction used in music production.

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One graph attempts to connect every object in the universe

If you’ve ever taken an introductory astronomy class, you’ve probably seen the Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram. This graph maps out the life cycle of stars by plotting their temperature against their luminosity, and has been a “cheat sheet” for stellar astrophysics for over a century. But the universe is full of more than just stars, and […]

Perseverance rover snaps selfie in western frontier of Mars

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover recently took a self-portrait against a sweeping backdrop of ancient Martian terrain at a location the science team calls Lac de Charmes. Assembled from 61 individual images, the selfie shows Perseverance training its mast on a rocky outcrop on which it had just made a circular abrasion patch, with the western […]

‘Calm’ galaxy cluster hides a violent cosmic scene that took 4 billion years to settle

The galaxy cluster Abell 2029 is sometimes described as “the most relaxed cluster in the universe.” This moniker does not arise from some sort of mellow vibe, but rather because of how calm and undisturbed the superheated gas that pervades the cluster appears to be.

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TIME instrument unlocks faint signals from early galaxies across vast stretches of sky

Cornell astronomers are deploying a new instrument that grants them, for the first time, a better view of the universe’s earliest galaxies, which can’t be observed individually with traditional ground- or space-based telescopes.

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Gravitational waves from colliding black holes may allow detection of dark matter

Dark matter is thought to make up most of the matter in the universe, but the only way it interacts with its surroundings is through gravity. If two colliding black holes spiral through a dense region of dark matter and merge, gravitational waves rippling across space and time could carry an imprint of that dark […]

Scientists use AI to interpret the sun’s acoustic heartbeat

A new AI-based approach that can “hear” inside the sun could give vital signs of the solar disturbances that have significant effects in near-Earth space and on human activities. The solar cycle is an approximate 11-year period during which the sun’s magnetic activity rises and falls. The cycle begins relatively calmly. However, as it progresses, […]

Bright blazar reveals 433-day optical quasi-periodic oscillation across nine years

By analyzing the data from the Whole Earth Blazar Telescope (WEBT), an international team of astronomers has discovered optical quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) in a bright quasar known as 3C 454.3. It is so far one of the most persistent QPOs detected in the optical band. The finding was reported in a paper published April 30 […]

JWST maps cosmic web in record detail back to universe’s first billion years

Using data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), astronomers led by researchers at the University of California, Riverside have produced the most detailed map of the cosmic web ever made, tracing the network of galaxies all the way back to when the universe was one billion years old.

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New model finds the lower size limit for habitable exoplanets

The search for Earth 2.0 has begun in earnest. But there’s a huge variety of exoplanets out there, so narrowing down the search to focus valuable telescope time on only the best candidates is critical. One variable of a planet that will have a huge impact on its habitability is its size. A new paper, […]

NASA fuel cell tests pave way for energy storage on the moon

With a small blue crane, four researchers hoist a cylindrical fuel cell, which looks like a stack of flattened silver and gold soda cans bundled together, into the air and lower it into a rectangular cart on wheels. A tangle of tubes and wires spirals away from the system, where nearly 270 sensors and 1,000 […]

New alien-life test could help Mars and Europa missions read organic molecules

For decades, the search for life beyond Earth has revolved around a key question: What molecules should scientists be looking for on other planets or moons? A new study, published in Nature Astronomy, suggests that the more revealing clue may not be the molecules themselves, but the hidden order connecting them.

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Pentagon releases UFO files that go back to the Apollo moon missions

The Department of Defense has released a fresh batch of images and transcripts relating to reports of unidentified anomalous phenomena, formerly known as UFOs, including pictures and descriptions from NASA’s Apollo missions to the moon.

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