Astronomers poised to hunt new kind of gravitational wave By Keith Cooper published 6 February 23 The gravitational waves would be weak, but potentially detectable by the next joint observing run of the world's gravitational-wave detectors.
Bright blue stars crawl among Tarantula Nebula clouds in Hubble telescope photo By Samantha Mathewson published 5 February 23 A stunning new view of the Tarantula Nebula captures turbulent clouds of gas and dust swirling between young stars.
Doomsday clock advances to 90 seconds to midnight — the closest to apocalypse it's ever been By Ben Turner published 5 February 23 Humanity faces greater existential threats than it did during the Cold War, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists
Strange unprecedented vortex spotted around the sun's north pole By Tereza Pultarova published 5 February 23 A huge filament of solar plasma has broken off the sun's surface and is circling its north pole like a vortex of powerful winds, but scientists have no clue what caused it.
Tonga's massive volcanic eruption wiped out unique, never-before-seen life-forms By Ben Turner published 4 February 23 The island was destroyed by the same volcano that formed it seven years before.
Hubble Space Telescope captures chaotic globular cluster near Milky Way's core By Robert Lea published 4 February 23 A Hubble Space Telescope image shows the scattered and chaotic population of stars in a globular cluster located 31,000 light-years from Earth.
Private Peregrine moon lander will now touch down near 'geologic enigma' By Elizabeth Howell published 3 February 23 NASA has redirected the private Peregrine moon lander to a new touchdown site to increase science returns ahead of crewed Artemis missions.
Jupiter now has the most moons in the solar system, beating Saturn thanks to 12 newfound satellites By Robert Lea published 3 February 23 Jupiter now boasts the largest number of moons orbiting it after scientists discovered another 12 moons, bringing the behemoth's total up to 92.
Miniature sun with simulated gravity could help prepare us for deadly solar storms By Ben Turner published 3 February 23 The tiny sun used sound waves to simulate the sun's swirling mass of plasma
Good Lawd! Mass of lone 'dead star' measured for the first time By Robert Lea published 3 February 23 Using the Hubble Space Telescope astronomers have measured the mass of a lone white dwarf star, LAWD 37, the kind of stellar remnant our sun will leave behind.
Astronomers discover potential habitable exoplanet only 31 light-years from Earth By Laurence Tognetti published 3 February 23 Wolf 1069 b offers a unique opportunity to study a potentially habitable and tidally locked exoplanet.
Tricky alien worlds easier to find when humans and machines team up By Briley Lewis published 3 February 23 A combination of citizen science and machine learning is a promising new technique for astronomers looking for exoplanets.
Curiosity rover finds metallic meteorite on Mars By Mike Wall published 3 February 23 NASA's Curiosity rover has rolled up on another meteorite on Mars, an iron-nickel rock the mission team has dubbed "Cacao."
Chaotic 'knot' of merging galaxy clusters captured in multiple wavelengths By Stefanie Waldek published 2 February 23 Combining X-ray, radio, optical and infrared wavelengths, astronomers have imaged the messy collision of three galactic clusters leading to the formation of Abell 2256.
New satellite to police carbon dioxide emitters from space By Tereza Pultarova published 2 February 23 The first-ever satellite designed to detect major emitters of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide is set to launch to space this year.
Saturn's moon Mimas may be a 'stealth' ocean world By Samantha Mathewson published 2 February 23 The icy Saturn moon Mimas may have a geologically young internal ocean surrounded by a thinning ice shell, new research suggests.
Saturday (Feb. 4), not Groundhog Day, is winter's actual midpoint By Joe Rao last updated 2 February 23 Although thought of as the halfway point of winter, Groundhog Day actually falls a couple of days short. Winter's midpoint will occur this week on Saturday (Feb. 4).
Holes in sun's atmosphere can help predict space weather on Earth By Tereza Pultarova published 2 February 23 Magnetic properties of coronal holes in the sun's atmosphere can help forecast the severity of geomagnetic storms that hit Earth.
Gigantic 'alien' comet spotted heading straight for the sun By Ben Turner published 2 February 23 Scientists think it may have come from another solar system.
The James Webb Space Telescope gets its own micrometeoroid forecast — here's how By Meghan Bartels published 2 February 23 Even as the James Webb Space Telescope is allowing astronomers to see inside vast, distant galaxies, it's also studying some tiny, nearby objects, albeit inadvertently.