Charles Q. Choi

Metal atoms have surprisingly been discovered in the frigid atmosphere of the first known interstellar comet to visit our solar system, a new study finds.

Evidence of what may be the youngest eruption seen yet on Mars suggests the Red Planet may still be volcanically active, raising the possibility it was recently habitable.

When a white dwarf star explodes as a supernova, it may be detonating like a nuclear weapon on Earth, a new study finds.

The famous equation used to search for alien civilizations has now inspired a new formula to hunt for alien artifacts within our solar system.

Mars did not dry up all at once, but fluctuated between dry spells and wetter times, a new study finds.

The first known interstellar comet to visit our solar system may be the most pristine ever found, never passing near a star until visiting our own, researchers say.

'Oumuamua, the first known visitor from interstellar space, was likely a pancake-shaped chip off a Pluto-like world.

Oceans' worth of water may remain buried in the crust of Mars, and not lost to space as previously long thought, a new study finds.

Mercury may not have shrunk nearly as much as scientists previously thought, potentially solving the mystery posed by the planet's continuing quakes.

The Mars moons Phobos and Deimos have been born from the remains of a larger moon that shattered.

A ghostly particle that smashed into Antarctica in 2019 has been traced back to a black hole tearing apart a star while acting like a giant cosmic particle accelerator, a new study finds.

New evidence suggests the first known black hole is bigger than previously thought, which may force scientists to reconsider their understanding of how giant stars give rise to black holes.

A distant galaxy in the newborn universe essentially resembles a grown adult when it should just look like a small child, suggesting galaxies may evolve more rapidly than we thought.

Martian landslides might help explain mystery lines seen on the surface of the Red Planet, a new study finds.

Water may have recently flowed within meteorites, suggesting the asteroids they broke off from may bear ice, a new study finds.

Astronomers may have captured the first good look at giant flares from the strongest magnets in the universe.

The haze shrouding Pluto might be made up of ice crystals possessing cyanide hearts, a new study finds.

What if the world were constantly bombarded with space-rock smashups, big enough and frequent enough to shape the course of entire cultures?

Astronomers may be getting closer to discovering as-yet hidden cosmic secrets, such as the nature of dark matter and the presence of widespread distortions in space-time.

Colonists on Mars could one day generate fuel and oxygen from saltwater on the Red Planet, a new study finds.

Earth is the only planet traveling within its nearly circular orbit around the sun. But what if Earth shared its orbit with another planet?

Astronomers have detected the first fast radio burst from a magnetar in our own Milky Way galaxy.

Mysterious repeating bursts of radio waves that fire in random patterns might come from neutron stars blasting asteroids with magnetic winds that travel at nearly the speed of light.

Rings detected around a newborn star may suggest that planets are born earlier than previously thought, a new study finds.

Mountains on Pluto have snowcaps that may have formed from the top down as opposed to the bottom up, the reverse of how snow caps form on Earth, a new study finds.