New evidence of ancient rivers suggests Mars may have been a “blue planet,” thanks to an ocean spanning its entire northern hemisphere. Cameras from several Mars orbiters captured the dusty remnants of apparent river deltas, which were described in research published Jan. 7 in the journal NPJ Space Exploration. The team, led by researchers at … Read more
NASA recently revealed the first pictures of its newly constructed Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which could soon help researchers hunt for exoplanets, map the Milky Way and unravel some of the universe’s biggest mysteries, such as the true nature of dark matter. Experts have also revealed the most probable launch date for the next-generation … Read more
What if some of the alien worlds we’ve discovered are not actually planets at all? Astronomers have spent years cataloging thousands of worlds orbiting distant stars, assuming that if something has the mass of a planet and exerts a gravitational pull on its parent star, it must be a planet. But there may be a … Read more
The moon is quietly absorbing tiny fragments of Earth’s atmosphere — and has been doing so for billions of years, a new study reveals. This surprising case of cosmic cannibalism is thanks to supercharged solar winds and, more importantly, our own planet’s magnetic field. The findings upend a 20-year-old theory about how certain charged particles, … Read more
The idea of humans living beyond Earth was once only possible in science fiction, but now space agencies are making plans to bring space colonization closer to reality. NASA and SpaceX are exploring long-term missions to the moon and Mars, while astronomers continue to discover potentially habitable exoplanets orbiting distant stars beyond our solar system. … Read more
In science fiction films, nothing raises tension quite like the good guys’ spaceship getting caught in an invisible tractor beam that allows the baddies to slowly reel them in. But what was once only a sci-fi staple could soon become a reality. Scientists are developing a real-life tractor beam, dubbed an electrostatic tractor. This tractor … Read more
The interiors of Uranus and Neptune may be rockier than scientists previously thought, a new computational model suggests — challenging the idea that the planets should be called “ice giants.” The new study, published Dec. 10 in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, may also help to explain the planets’ puzzling magnetic fields. Uranus and Neptune … Read more
Scientists have found that time moves slightly faster on the Red Planet than it does on Earth. Clocks on Mars tick, on average, 0.477 milliseconds (477 microseconds) faster over 24 hours when measured from Earth compared with time recorded on our planet, a new study finds. Knowing this difference may help in establishing an “internet” … Read more
The catastrophic collision that forged the moon, and marked one of the most consequential events in Earth’s early history, may have been triggered not by a distant interloper, but by a sibling world that grew up right next door, according to a new study. About 4.5 billion years ago, a Mars-size world slammed into the … Read more
A strange, lopsided dust cloud shrouds Earth’s moon, ever skewed toward whichever side is facing the sun. Now, a new study may finally explain how the asymmetrical cloud got its shape. Most of the moon’s surface is covered by a layer of gray dust and loose rocks. This layer, called regolith, arises because the lunar … Read more
