Did supernovae kill off large ocean animals at dawn of Pleistocene?
About 2.6 million years ago, an oddly bright light arrived in the prehistoric sky and lingered there for weeks or months. It was a supernova
Category : Space & Planetary
HeritageDaily – Space & planetary news and astronomy press releases from Nasa & across the globe
Mars moon got its grooves from rolling stones, study suggests
A new study bolsters the idea that strange grooves crisscrossing the surface of the Martian moon Phobos were made by rolling boulders blasted free from
Ancient Egyptians discovered Algol’s variability 3,000 years before western astronomers
Astronomers and Egyptologists demonstrate how ancient Egyptian calendars were used to describe the behaviour of astronomical observations, in particular, the star system Algol.
Scientists theorize new origin story for Earth’s water
Earth's water may have originated from both asteroidal material and gas left over from the formation of the Sun, according to new research.
The ghost of Cassiopeia
About 550 light-years away in the constellation of Cassiopeia lies IC 63, a stunning and slightly eerie nebula.
Superflares from young red dwarf stars imperil planets
The word "HAZMAT" describes substances that pose a risk to the environment, or even to life itself. Imagine the term being applied to entire planets,
Giant planets around young star raise questions about how planets form
Researchers have identified a young star with four Jupiter and Saturn-sized planets in orbit around it, the first time that so many massive planets have
Scientists present new clues to cut through the mystery of Titan’s atmospheric haze
Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is unique among all moons in our solar system for its dense and nitrogen-rich atmosphere that also contains hydrocarbons and other
Hit-and-run heist of water by terrestrial planets in the early Solar System
A study simulating the final stages of terrestrial planet formation shows that ‘hit-and-run’ encounters play a significant role in the acquisition of water by large
Chilean scientists discover crucial event right before the death of a star
A new paper in the journal Nature Astronomy, The delay of shock breakout due to circumstellar material evident in most Type II Supernovae, written by a
Water-worlds are common: Exoplanets may contain vast amounts of water
Scientists have shown that water is likely to be a major component of those exoplanets (planets orbiting other stars) which are between two to four
Hubble paints picture of the evolving universe
Astronomers using the ultraviolet vision of NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope have captured one of the largest panoramic views of the fire and fury of star
Where Martian dust comes from
The dust that coats much of the surface of Mars originates largely from a single thousand-kilometer-long geological formation near the Red Planet's equator, scientists have
Young galaxy’s halo offers clues to its growth and evolution
A team of astronomers has discovered a new way to unlock the mysteries of how the first galaxies formed and evolved.
X-ray data may be first evidence of a star devouring a planet
For nearly a century, astronomers have puzzled over the curious variability of young stars residing in the Taurus-Auriga constellation some 450 light years from Earth.
A dozen new moons of Jupiter discovered, including one ‘oddball’
Twelve new moons orbiting Jupiter have been found -11 "normal" outer moons, and one that they're calling an "oddball." This brings Jupiter's total number of
Plasma-spewing quasar shines light on universe’s youth, early galaxy formation
Pasadena, CA--Carnegie's Eduardo Bañados led a team that found a quasar with the brightest radio emission ever observed in the early universe, due to it
‘Cataclysmic’ collision shaped Uranus’ evolution
Uranus was hit by a massive object roughly twice the size of Earth that caused the planet to tilt and could explain its freezing temperatures,
Fragment of impacting asteroid recovered in Botswana
A team of experts from Botswana, South Africa, Finland and the United States of America recovered a fresh meteorite in Botswana’s Central Kalahari Game Reserve
Long suspected theory about the moon holds water
A team of Japanese scientists led by Masahiro Kayama of Tohoku University's Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences, has discovered a mineral known as moganite
Astronomers see distant eruption as black hole destroys star
For the first time, astronomers have directly imaged the formation and expansion of a fast-moving jet of material ejected when the powerful gravity of a
Mars rocks may harbor signs of life from 4 billion years ago
Iron-rich rocks near ancient lake sites on Mars could hold vital clues that show life once existed there, research suggests.