Latest science news in Astronomy & Space
These two tiny spacecraft will help pave the way for astronauts to return to the moon
If NASA astronauts land on the moon as planned in 2024, they'll have an advantage their Apollo predecessors lacked: insights gathered by tiny robotic spacecraft that visit the moon before...
Moulded Galaxies
Across dank, shaded habitats of cosmic intent specks of light flicker into life. Emerging from chaos, filaments of matter weave their nets; unclassifiable structures that stretch across the emptiness as...
European Gateway experiment will monitor radiation in deep space
The first science experiments that will be hosted on the Gateway, the international research outpost orbiting the moon, have been selected by ESA and NASA. Europe's contribution will monitor radiation...
Middle-School Student Names NASA’s Next Mars Rover
NASA’s next Mars rover has a new name: Perseverance. After sorting through more than 28,000 submissions from K-12 students from every U.S. state and territory, one name was chosen. Alexander...
Researchers find gravitational wave candidates from binary black hole mergers in public LIGO/Virgo data
Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute; AEI) in Hannover together with international colleagues have published their second Open Gravitational-wave Catalog (2-OGC). They used improved...
Astrophysicists wear 3-D glasses to watch quasars
A team of researchers from Russia and Greece reports a way to determine the origins and nature of quasar light by its polarization. The new approach is analogous to the...
HaloSat offers galactic X-ray measurements on shoestring budget
Space research is an expensive business. Once a space-based instrument is proposed, researchers want to get as much value as possible from it. The proposed satellite quickly grows in instruments...
Puzzle about nitrogen solved thanks to cometary analogs
One of the basic building blocks of life is nitrogen. An international consortium was able to detect ammonium salt containing nitrogen on the cometary surface of Chury thanks to a...
Salty space rock helps to solve longstanding comet mystery
Researchers have identified nitrogen previously thought to be "missing" in comets, helping to solve a longstanding mystery about the icy space rocks.
Satellite megaconstellations will mar astronomers' view of heavens, study finds
Two European Southern Observatory telescopes will be "moderately affected" in their observations by the rise of big, new satellite constellations, a new study finds, while wide-field telescopes will be "severely...
European Gateway experiment will monitor radiation in deep space
The first science experiments that will be hosted on the Gateway, the international research outpost orbiting the Moon, have been selected by ESA and NASA. Europe’s contribution will monitor radiation...
Press briefing on ExoMars
Video: 00:45:56 Replay of a press briefing on ExoMars, held on 12 March 2020. Replay of a press briefing on ExoMars, held on 12 March 2020. Participants were ESA Director General, Jan...
SpaceX plans Saturday launch from Florida to boost Starlink satellite count
SpaceX is aiming for a Saturday morning launch of its sixth cluster of 60 Starlink satellites from Florida.
Fluor propulsion nabs $1.8B for nuclear propulsion work
Fluor Marine Propulsion received a $1.8 billion contract modification for work at the Naval Nuclear Laboratory.
China's new navigation system is nearly complete with penultimate Beidou satellite launch
The Chinese Beidou satellite navigation system is almost finished, thanks to the launch of a new satellite this week.
Computer model solves mystery of how gas bubbles build big methane hydrate deposits
New research has explained an important mystery about natural gas hydrate formations and, in doing so, advanced scientists' understanding of how gas hydrates could contribute to climate change and energy...
'Minor planet' bonanza: 139 new objects discovered beyond Neptune
The list of Pluto's neighbors just got considerably longer, potentially boosting scientists' odds of finding the putative Planet Nine.
Coronavirus and technical issues delay a Mars mission’s launch
A joint European and Russian mission to Mars is being postponed from July until sometime in 2022, as the coronavirus pandemic is preventing scientists from resolving a few technical difficulties, the European Space...
Finding comets' hidden nitrogen
Ammonium salts may serve as nitrogen reservoirs on the icy bodies, suggesting a common origin for comets and the sun
Computer model solves mystery of how gas bubbles build big methane hydrate deposits
New research from The University of Texas at Austin has explained an important mystery about natural gas hydrate formations and, in doing so, advanced scientists' understanding of how gas hydrates...
Look: Baekhyun recording new solo music
K-pop star Baekhyun is back in the studio following the release of his EP "City Lights" in July.
Getting sick in space: How would NASA handle an astronaut disease outbreak?
As coronavirus continues to spread around the globe, it's interesting to ponder what would happen if such a virus were to spread in space.
Watch: Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey voice souls in 'Soul' trailer
Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Questlove, Phylicia Rashad and Daveed Diggs star in "Soul," a new animated film from Pixar and Disney.
Ammonium salts are a reservoir of nitrogen on a cometary nucleus and possibly on some asteroids
The measured nitrogen-to-carbon ratio in comets is lower than for the Sun, a discrepancy which could be alleviated if there is an unknown reservoir of nitrogen in comets. The nucleus...
Persistent influence of obliquity on ice age terminations since the Middle Pleistocene transition
Radiometric dating of glacial terminations over the past 640,000 years suggests pacing by Earth’s climatic precession, with each glacial-interglacial period spanning four or five cycles of ~20,000 years. However, the...
Europe, Russia postpone Mars rover mission amid coronavirus travel restrictions
The European Space Agency and Russia's Roscosmos said Thursday they are postponing a planned joint mission to Mars until 2022, in part due to travel restrictions resulting from the new...
Separations between earthquakes reveal clear patterns
So far, few studies have explored how the similarity between inter-earthquake times and distances is related to their separation from initial events. In a new study, researchers show that the...
'A Quiet Place Part II' release pushed back amid coronavirus pandemic
Due to increasing concerns about the coronavirus, John Krasinski and Emily Blunt's "A Quiet Place Part II" will no longer hit theaters on March 20.