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A new paper suggests that it’s much easier to detect oxygen in the atmospheres of planets orbiting white dwarf stars, which are dimmer than the Sun.

Scientists are hoping that some of 3,000-plus possible exoplanets discovered by NASA’s Kepler mission have moons that exist outside a circumplanetary “habitable edge.”

Last week’s events have asteroid hunters feeling both vindicated and excited as they step up efforts to develop better detection methods.

The original observation was effectively a lack of an observation. The conclusion was dinosaurs. 

The icy surface of this Jupiter moon hides a vast body of liquid that most scientists believe is water. Thanks to improved spectrometry, they now believe that that water may be salty.

NASA’s recent discovery of two Earth-like planets within the Kepler-62 solar system – the most Earth-like planets ever detected – is creating excitement in the scientific community that we’re close to finding […]

Kepler 37-B is about the size of our moon, yet is a little too close to its parent star for human comfort.

The most common stars in our galaxy were too small to be seen until recently. A new study suggests that there’s a good chance that they support Earth-like planets.

Announced this Monday, the possible planet is just one of 461 new candidates, out of a total of over 2,700, located by NASA’s Kepler space telescope since its 2009 launch.

Looking into a sliver of sky known as the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, astronomers have found light from galaxies born just after the big bang, telling scientists more about the early universe. 

The team is one of the first selected to perform research during the first official cycle of the world’s largest airborne observatory.

Named for their size and bright color, these objects allow astronomers a new look into the lifespans of galaxies and the black holes at their centers.

At 17 billion times the mass of the sun, it could be the biggest of its kind found to date, and its existence may shake up scientists’ knowledge of how galaxies are born and evolve.

Comet ISON was first spotted well beyond Jupiter’s orbit, which makes it fairly large. If it makes it past the sun it could light up the night sky by this time next year.

Launched last week, the game, called Clouds, is the newest addition to the Milky Way Project and to Zooniverse, which is home to some of the largest online citizen science endeavors.

Planetary Resources isn’t the first company formed around the mission of extracting valuable metals from the asteroid belt, but it may be the first one with some real investor belief and funding behind it.

NASA’s new X-ray telescope chanced upon a rare flare-up taking place in the center of the galaxy, home of the Sagittarius A black hole.

A new paper says the “rogue planet” is drifting in space about 100 light-years away from Earth, raising speculations as to how many others are out there.

For the amateur astronomer in your life: 16 terabytes’ worth of data from the orbiting telescope dating back to its 2009 launch. The science team wants help deciphering it all.

Science is often awkward and frustratingly uncertain and mindbogglingly complicated. It is also what enriches our lives.

The dwarf planet, one of five that exist at the outer edges of the solar system, recently passed in front of a star, allowing astronomers their first shot at getting some really good data.

Using shots from the Hubble, NASA has looked back further into the origins of galaxies and our universe than ever before. The James Webb space telescope will look even further back. 

Here is the Milky Way Galaxy as you have never seen it before. The European Southern Observatory (ESO) has just released a zoomable image representing the central concentration of stars […]

Amid the excitement surrounding the discovery of an Earth-sized planet in our nearest neighboring system is the question of whether there might be others in the same system capable of supporting life.

NASA has agreed to fund a study into whether or not mining asteroids for precious metals and minerals is economically sound. Surely not at the moment, but it might be in the future…

A recently-published study documents scientists’ use of carbon-based molecules, ice, and lasers to duplicate one theory of how life may have evolved on Earth.

Photos released from the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) represent the first step in a project that will help astronomers better understand the makeup of the universe and the causes behind its rapid expansion.

Using NASA’s Kepler space telescope, astronomers have found an alien solar system that exhibits the same structure as ours, with planets rotating on a single plane around their parent star. 

SETI’s new director Gerry Harp wants to see more investment in high-risk, high-reward science. In a recent interview, he discussed how the search for aliens is advancing rapidly.

Three recently-released papers reveal the discovery of over 2 million space objects, including black holes and extra-bright galaxies, using infrared deep scanning technology.