New Mars discoveries are advancing the case for possible life on the red planet, past or even present. Scientists reported Thursday that NASA’s Curiosity rover has found potential building blocks of life in an ancient Martian lakebed. Hints have been found before, but this is the best evidence yet.
Read moreTeamwork will be crucial for astronauts tackling the multiyear journey to Mars, according to a paper published in American Psychologist, the flagship journal of the American Psychological Association.
Read moreA newly discovered asteroid in Jupiter’s orbit “immigrated” from another solar system and is orbiting in the opposite direction of nearly everything else in our solar system, according to new astronomical research.
Read moreHelium has been detected in the atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system for the first time, a team of astronomers reported Tuesday.
Read moreNASA’s Tess spacecraft embarked Wednesday on a quest to find new worlds around neighboring stars that could support life.
Read moreFragments of a meteorite that fell to Earth about a decade ago provide compelling evidence of a lost planet that once roamed our solar system, according to a study published Tuesday.
Read moreCalling all planets that orbit around bright, nearby stars: NASA’s new Tess spacecraft is looking to do a head count.
Read moreEarth is losing plants, animals and clean water at a dramatic rate, according to four new United Nations scientific reports that provide the most comprehensive and localized look at the state of biodiversity.
Read moreUnlike other planets in the solar system, Saturn stores up huge amounts of energy over many Earth decades, and then unleashes it all at once in the form of an awesome, swirling, massive electrical storm that lasts for months. Scientists don’t know why Saturn behaves this way, but it’s a once-a-year occurrence on the ringed planet. Once a Saturnian year, that is: a year there is 30 Earth years.
Read moreTwo scientists in spacesuits, stark white against the auburn terrain of desolate plains and dunes, test a geo-radar built to map Mars by dragging the flat box across the rocky sand.
Read moreScientists have discovered vast deposits of water ice on Mars, prompting calls for future study and improving the chances of possible habitability of the Red Planet.
Read morePresident Donald Trump signed a policy directive Monday instructing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to “refocus America’s space program on human exploration and discovery.”
Read moreA newly discovered nearby – in cosmic terms – exoplanet could support life, scientists report Wednesday.
Read moreA nearly 20-mile-wide impact crater near Mars’ Hellas basin formed at a time when the planet’s environment was much wetter, as shown by the fluidized nature of the debris excavated by the impact. The photo was taken by the European Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft in May and released by the agency on Thursday.
Read moreNASA’s Juno space probe will fly Monday directly over the biggest storm in the solar system: Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. Wide enough to swallow Earth twice, the swirling anti-cylone is at least 150 years old and Juno will come closer to it than any spacecraft in history.
Read more
New images of a fast-moving “neutron” star shed light on a 25-year-old mystery of how planets form in the aftermath of a supernova, the cosmic explosion of a star many times larger than the sun.
Read moreEarly results from NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter reveal Earth-sized polar cyclones, a “fuzzy” core and a massive, irregularly shaped magnetic field – all of which challenge previously held theories on the solar system’s largest planet.
Read moreThe quest to find life beyond Earth progressed Monday, with research that sheds light on the recently discovered – and potentially habitable – planet Proxima b.
Read moreEuropean Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet takes amazing photographs from his perch in the International Space Station high above the earth. He posted this one to social media, commenting, “The view at night recently has been simply magnificent: few clouds, intense auroras. I can’t look away from the windows.”
Read moreMars’ lack of liquid water might be a result of solar wind and radiation that stripped it of its atmospheric gas – and the ability to support life – leaving behind a frigid desert world.
Read more