Gravitational interaction as a research area encompasses the theoretical, computational, and experimental study of how mass-energy curves spacetime and governs the dynamics of astrophysical and cosmological systems. It includes general relativity, tests of the equivalence principle, post-Newtonian approximations, and numerical relativity for compact-object binaries and gravitational-wave sources. The field also investigates modifications of gravity, dark matter and dark energy phenomenology from a gravitational perspective, strong- and weak-field regimes, gravitational lensing, and structure formation. Research involves precision experiments, multi-messenger astronomy, and the development of effective field theories and quantum-gravity–motivated models to probe deviations from classical gravitational dynamics.
New analysis on 2017 Hubble images of the Jupiter-family comet, 41P/Tuttle–Giacobini–Kresak (41P/TGK), indicates that the comet underwent a spin reversal between April and December 2017. While this behavior is not unheard ...
Recent research suggests that Saturn's bright rings and its largest moon, Titan, may have both originated in collisions among its moons. While Cassini's 13-year mission expanded our understanding of Saturn, the discoveries ...
Planetary Sciences
Feb 11, 2026
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Free-floating planets, or as they are more commonly known, rogue planets, wander interstellar space completely alone. Saying there might be a lot of them is a bit of an understatement. Recent estimates put the number of rogue ...
Astrobiology
Feb 11, 2026
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Satellites and spacecraft in the vast region between Earth and the moon and just beyond—called cislunar space—are crucial for space exploration, scientific advancement and national security. But figuring out where exactly ...
Space Exploration
Feb 4, 2026
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Most near-Earth asteroids are thought to drift in from the main asteroid belt. But a small subset may have a much closer origin: the moon. One intriguing example is 469219 Kamoʻoalewa (2016 HO3), an Earth quasi-satellite ...
Astronomy
Feb 2, 2026
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When Apollo 13 looped around the moon in April 1970, more than 40 million people around the world watched the United States recover from a potential catastrophe. An oxygen tank explosion turned a planned landing into an urgent ...
Space Exploration
Jan 27, 2026
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While most planets that we are familiar with stick relatively close to their host star in a predictable orbit, some planets seem to have been knocked out of their orbits, floating through space free of any particular gravitational ...
Tracking time is one of those things that seems easy, until you really start to get into the details of what time actually is. We define a second as 9,192,631,770 oscillations of a cesium atom. However, according to Einstein's ...
Space Exploration
Nov 13, 2025
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Titan, Saturn's largest natural satellite, captivates scientists with its Earth-like processes, dense nitrogen atmosphere, and surface lakes of liquid hydrocarbons. However, its nonuniform gravity field, thick haze, and low ...
Planetary Sciences
Nov 11, 2025
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26
Trapped in a gravitational push and pull between Jupiter and other Jovian moons, Io is constantly being stretched and compressed. Heat generated by these contortions has melted pockets of the moon's interior so much that ...
Planetary Sciences
Nov 4, 2025
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