Enceladus may have ocean currents like we see around Antarctica By Elizabeth Howell The ocean of the water-spurting moon Enceladus might be more active than scientists realized.
Uranus is belching X-rays and is weirder than we ever thought By Meghan Bartels The more scientists study it, the weirder Uranus gets.
Huge volcanic eruption didn’t cause climate change and mass extinction 140 million years ago By Joshua Davies, Brenda Chung Rocha, Nicolas Greber Mass extinctions are times in Earth’s past when large proportions of life suddenly and catastrophically died.
Scientists detect world's coldest cloud hovering over Pacific Ocean By Yasemin Saplakoglu A severe thunderstorm cloud that formed over the Pacific Ocean in 2018 reached the coldest temperatures ever recorded.
We should study 'dead' alien worlds, and maybe (carefully) seed them with life By Adam Mann Looking at the scientific information gleaned from lifeless worlds could help in the search for life, one astrobiologist says.
Gorgeous NASA photo shows a volcano eruption in Iceland at night By Kasandra Brabaw Data from NASA's Landsat satellite shows what a volcano eruption looks like from above the clouds.
Interstellar interloper 2I/Borisov may be the most pristine comet ever observed By Charles Q. Choi 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.
Rare daytime fireball meteor creates massive sonic boom over UK By Harry Baker A rare fireball meteor bright enough to be seen during the day triggered a massive sonic boom over parts of the UK and France.
Climate explained: How particles ejected from the sun affect Earth's climate By Annika Seppālā When we consider the sun's influence on Earth and our climate, we tend to think about solar radiation.
A remnant of a protoplanet may be hiding inside Earth By Nicoletta Lanese A protoplanet called Theia crashed into Earth 4.5 billion years ago.
Mars' dark streaks are probably caused by dry landslides By Mike Wall A recent study found that these dark marks, known as recurring slope lineae, surged following the massive 2018 dust storm that killed NASA's Mars rover Opportunity.
Explosion from the early universe illuminates secret black hole By Chelsea Gohd Light coming from an explosion in the early universe has illuminated a black hole that astronomers think could expand their understanding of how the celestial objects form.
Here's how the full moon helped free the stuck ship Ever Given in the Suez Canal By Meghan Bartels It took a little help from the full moon to free the massive Ever Given cargo ship from its perch stranded across the Suez Canal.
NASA joins White House Climate Task Force By Chelsea Gohd NASA has joined the White House National Climate Task Force, another step in the agency's continued study of climate change and global warming.
A mission to Uranus and Neptune could act as massive gravitational-wave detector By Paul Sutter What if one mission could study the gravitational ripples triggered by some of the most violent events in the universe — on the way to observing the least-known planets of our solar system?
How can some planets be hotter than stars? We've started to unravel the mystery. By Quentin Changeat, Billy Edwards Until the early 2000s, the only known planets were located in our own neighborhood, the Solar System.
How asteroid dust helped us prove life’s raw ingredients can evolve in outer space By Queenie Hoi Shan Chan Scientists have long known that certain ingredients are needed to support life, especially water and key organic chemicals like carbon.
Legacy of shattered alien-seeking Arecibo telescope will live on for millions of years By Mindy Weisberger Arecibo Observatory's collapse on Dec. 1, 2020 was a devastating blow for science, but its decades of observations will inform research for years to come.
A 'lump' of dark matter may be ripping apart Taurus' face By Brandon Specktor The Hyades — the closest star cluster to our sun — is being stretched by an invisible 'lump,' researchers say.
Infamous asteroid Apophis poses no threat to Earth for at least 100 years, NASA says By Elizabeth Howell The notorious Apophis space rock just shed its hazardous status — for the next 100 years at least — after fresh observations of the near-Earth asteroid.
