“New views of Jupiter” showcases swirling clouds on giant planet
JunoCam images presented by citizen scientists Gerald Eichstädt and Seán Doran include an animation showing the evolution of swirling features in the giant planet’s atmosphere and a composite image of Jupiter’s cloud tops.
Exiled asteroid discovered in outer reaches of solar system
An international team of astronomers has used ESO telescopes to investigate a relic of the primordial Solar System.
What will happen when our sun dies?
Scientists agree the sun will die in approximately 10 billion years, but they weren't sure what would happen next...until now.
To see the first-born stars of the universe
About 200 to 400 million years after the Big Bang created the universe, the first stars began to appear. Ordinarily stars lying at such a great distance in space and time would be out of reach even for NASA's new James Webb Space Telescope, due for launch in 2020.
Old data, new tricks: Fresh results from NASA’s Galileo spacecraft 20 years on
Far across the solar system, from where Earth appears merely as a pale blue dot, NASA's Galileo spacecraft spent eight years orbiting Jupiter.
Clear as mud: Desiccation cracks help reveal the shape of water on Mars
As Curiosity rover marches across Mars, the red planet's watery past comes into clearer focus.
Research suggests water appeared while Earth was still growing
Up until about ten years ago, scientists thought they had a pretty good picture of how the moon and Earth came to co-exist. Then more precise measurements blew it all wide open, and scientists are still struggling to reconcile them.
The moon formed inside a vaporized Earth synestia
A new explanation for the Moon's origin has it forming inside the Earth when our planet was a seething, spinning cloud of vaporized rock, called a synestia.
Asteroid ‘time capsules’ may help explain how life started on Earth
In popular culture, asteroids play the role of apocalyptic threat, get blamed for wiping out the dinosaurs - and offer an extraterrestrial source for mineral mining.
Two Super-Earths around star K2-18
New research using data collected by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) has revealed that a little-known exoplanet called K2-18b could well be a scaled-up version of Earth.
Research bolsters possibility of plate tectonics on Europa
A Brown University study provides new evidence that the icy shell of Jupiter's moon Europa may have plate tectonics similar to those on Earth. The presence of plate tectonic activity could have important implications for the possibility of life in the ocean thought to exist beneath the moon's surface.
Astronomers discover a star that would not die
An international team of astronomers led by Las Cumbres Observatory (LCO) has made a bizarre discovery; a star that refuses to stop shining.
‘Monster’ Planet Discovery Challenges Formation Theory
A giant planet, which should not exist according to planet formation theory, has been discovered around a distant star.
Oldest recorded solar eclipse helps date the Egyptian pharaohs
Researchers have pinpointed the date of what could be the oldest solar eclipse yet recorded. The event, which occurred on 30 October 1207 BC, is mentioned in the Bible, and could have consequences for the chronology of the ancient world.
Devourer of planets? Princeton researchers dub star ‘Kronos’
Sun-like star Kronos shows signs of having ingested 15 Earth masses worth of rocky planets, prompting Princeton astronomers to name it after the Titan who ate his children.
