The asteroid that just came close to Earth is so huge it has its own moons
Asteroid Florence flew by Earth last week, skimming at a distance of 7 million kilometres (4.4 million miles). It’s the biggest asteroid to come this close in more than a…
Jupiter’s insane auroras are powered by an energy source nobody can explain
The more we find out about Jupiter, the more we discover it’s really nothing like what we expected, and now the Jovian giant is perplexing scientists with what could be…
NASA’s latest Jupiter pics are here to remind you the Universe doesn’t totally suck
NASA’s Juno probe has just sent back incredible images from its eighth science flyby of the gas giant. But as if the highly detailed images weren’t amazing enough, the space…
A new kind of giant black hole was just found lurking near the heart of our galaxy
A giant black hole some 100,000 times the mass of the Sun has been detected near the heart of the Milky Way, making it our galaxy’s second largest known black…
NASA’s latest retro posters celebrate the Voyagers’ astonishing interstellar mission
‘The launching of this bottle into the cosmic ocean says something very hopeful about life on this planet,’ said Carl Sagan upon the launch of the Voyager probes back in…
Peggy Whitson just got home after smashing US record for longest time spent in space
If Peggy Whitson isn’t one of your space heroes, she’s going to be by the time you’ve finished reading this article. The NASA astronaut returned safely home to Earth from…
Here’s how ultraviolet light could point to alien life throughout the universe
Ultraviolet light is what you might call a controversial type of radiation. On the one hand, overexposure can lead to sunburn, an increased risk of skin cancer, and damage to…
Ancient parasitic black holes could be responsible for making the Universe’s heaviest atoms
Black holes are generally objects we associate with the collapse of massive stars, but researchers have debated whether they could have also formed in the instant after the Big Bang,…
Scientists Just Found the First Evidence That the Trappist-1 System Might Contain Water
Earlier this year, NASA announced the discovery of Trappist-1, a planetary system containing seven Earth-sized planets that could potentially bear water. Now, a international team of scientists has produced further…
Saturn’s moons and rings have just been turned into eerie celestial music
Cassini’s glorious demise, in which it will plunge into the mysterious heart of Saturn, is now just two short weeks away. And to commemorate the occasion, you can’t just use…
We finally have data on which nearby stars could send comets crashing into Earth
By estimating the paths of several hundred thousand stars in the Milky Way galaxy, scientists have sketched out some back-of-the-envelope calculations on how likely it is that any could nudge…
Black holes once cleared the way for light in our universe, say astronomers
In the beginning, there was darkness. And then, after hundreds of millions of years, light from primitive suns spilled freely across the Universe. What caused the lifting of this veil,…
Astronomers just solved a 580-year-old mystery of a massive stellar explosion
What seemed to be a new star blazed into existence on March 11, 1437. The galactic newcomer was witnessed by Korean royal astronomers, among the few people taking notes about…
We just picked up an intense burst of 15 weird signals from a distant galaxy
In the early hours of Saturday morning, researchers searching the Universe for signs of alien life detected 15 explosive radio signals in the space of just five hours, all coming…
NASA just released this absolutely breathtaking image of the solar eclipse in infrared
While millions across the continental US turned their eclipse glasses to the sky to watch the Sun disappear behind the Moon last Monday, NASA scientists took to the skies to…
Scientists just solved the mystery of a rare meteor shower that disappeared for 60 years
For the first time, scientists have predicted the activity of a comet based on observations of its trailing meteoroids – and in doing so have solved the mystery of how…
This clockwork rover could be the perfect way to get around on Venus
Space can be hell, especially for delicate hardware. So when vital instruments need to run like clockwork, sometimes clockwork is actually the solution. NASA is taking a close look at…
We just got another explanation for the crazy behaviour of the ‘alien megastructure’ star
A team of scientists led by Mario Sucerquia at the University of Antioquia in Colombia have suggested a new explanation for the irregular dips in brightness of the star K8462852,…