The Universe, although violent, is filled with creation events following destructive ones. 1850 light-years away, both types are unfolding.
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Out beyond Neptune are some fascinating bodies left over from our Solar System’s formation. Could one of them truly be spectacular?
We see objects whose light only arrives just now. But we see them as they were in the past: when that now-arriving light was first emitted.
We have long thought that Pluto was completely frozen solid, but the discovery of cryovolcanoes challenges that assumption.
The structure of our Solar System has been known for centuries. When we finally started finding exoplanets, they surprised everyone.
Mercury, Venus, and Mars are all uni-plate planets, and may always have been. Here’s what’s known about why Earth, uniquely, has plate tectonics.
All the stars, stellar corpses, planets, and other large, massive objects take on spherical or spheroidal shapes. Why is that universal?
The recent discovery of a large cave on the Moon highlights the importance of caves not just for future space explorers but astrobiology as well.
The number of planets that could support life may be far greater than previously thought, a recent discovery suggests.
Pluto failed to meet the definition of a planet, but some astronomers think there might be a legitimate Planet 9 out there.
The near and far sides of the Moon are so different from each other, and no one is sure why. New lunar samples could confirm a wild theory.
Northern lights in the American South, clusters of huge geomagnetic storms—the Sun is throwing a tantrum right on schedule.
Could life be widespread throughout the cosmos, in the subsurface oceans of ice-covered worlds? NASA’s Europa Clipper mission investigates.
In a distant galaxy, a cosmic dance between two supermassive black holes emits periodic flashes of light.
Valles Marineris is the Solar System’s grandest canyon, many times longer, wider, and deeper than the Grand Canyon. What scarred Mars so?
An army of replicators belonging to national laboratories, research universities, and amateur garages is rushing to replicate ambient superconductivity in LK-99.
Do you think you know the Solar System? Here’s a fact about each planet that might surprise you when you see it!
In all of human history, only 5 spacecraft have had the right trajectory to exit the Solar System. Will they ever catch Voyager 1?
The existence of another watery world in the outer solar system may offer clues to how such seas form — and hope for another spot to search for life.
The nearby, bright star Fomalhaut had the first optically imaged planetary candidate. Using JWST’s eyes, astronomers found so much more.
In 2006, Pluto was demoted in a very controversial decision. Unless you ignore nearly all of planetary science, it’ll never be one again.
Compared to Earth, Mars is small, cold, dry, and lifeless. But 3.4 billion years ago, a killer asteroid caused a Martian megatsunami.
Can two planets stably share the same orbit? Conventional wisdom says no, but a look at Saturn’s moons might tell a different story.
All across the Universe, planets come in a wide variety of sizes, masses, compositions, and temperatures. And most have rain and snow.
Our Universe requires dark matter in order to make sense of things, astrophysically. Could massive photons do the trick?
Get ready for the most peculiar road trip that will help you understand the vastness and emptiness of the solar system — and Sweden.
Straddling the bounds of science and religion, Newton wondered who set the planets in motion. Astrophysics reveals the answer.
Newborn stars are surrounded only by a featureless disk. Debris disks persist for hundreds of millions of years. So when do planets form?
Beyond stars, galaxies, and gravity, studying the fundamental workings of nature reveals widely applicable lessons for learners everywhere.