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Lucy spacecraft takes its first images of asteroid Donaldjohanson

NASA's Lucy spacecraft has its next flyby target, the small main belt asteroid Donaldjohanson, in its sights. By blinking between images captured by Lucy on Feb. 20 and 22, this animation shows the perceived motion of Donaldjohanson ...

Have we been wrong about why Mars is red?

Mars is easily identifiable in the night sky by its prominent red hue. Thanks to the fleet of spacecraft that have studied the planet over the last decades, we know that this red color is due to rusted iron minerals in the ...

NASA's Europa Clipper uses Mars to go the distance

On March 1, NASA's Europa Clipper will streak just 550 miles (884 kilometers) above the surface of Mars for what's known as a gravity assist—a maneuver to bend the spacecraft's trajectory and position it for a critical ...

Mission concept proposes sampling Enceladus's subsurface ocean

How can we explore Saturn's moon, Enceladus, to include its surface and subsurface ocean, with the goal of potentially discovering life as we know it? This is what a recent study presented at the American Geophysical Union ...

Jupiter-like exoplanet orbiting nearby star detected

Israeli astronomers report the detection of a new Jupiter-like exoplanet using the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS). The newfound alien world orbits a nearby M-dwarf star designated GJ 2126. The discovery ...

Ancient beaches testify to long-ago ocean on Mars

A Chinese rover that landed on Mars in 2021 detected evidence of underground beach deposits in an area thought to have once been the site of an ancient sea, providing further evidence that the planet long ago had a large ...

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Colliding plasma ejections from the sun generate huge geomagnetic storms
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SpaceX targeting Friday for next test of Starship megarocket
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If you're going to call aliens, use this number
Astronomy
How astronomers make deep maps of the Milky Way
Space Exploration
Lunar Trailblazer blasts off to map water on the moon
Astronomy
Asteroid has a very small chance of hitting Earth in 2032, but a collision could devastate a city
Astronomy
Hubble spies a spiral that may be hiding an imposter
Astronomy
NASA's PUNCH mission to revolutionize our view of solar wind
Space Exploration
Two atmospheric missions on one satellite
Space Exploration
Recent ISS findings address drug stability in space and astronaut balance after spaceflight
Space Exploration
SpaceX delays launch from Cape Canaveral
Space Exploration
Elon Musk calls for deorbit of International Space Station as soon as possible
Planetary Sciences
Do look up: How Earth can defend itself against asteroid
Space Exploration
Musk in X spat with Danish astronaut over 'abandoned' ISS crew
Space Exploration
Moon or Mars? NASA's future at a crossroads under Trump
Astronomy
First pulsar discovered by the GCGPS survey
Planetary Sciences
Asteroid deflection strategies: Researchers unveil new scenarios
Astronomy
Small Magellanic Cloud observations provide insight into early universe star formation
Astronomy
Did astronomers just witness the formation of a 'strange star?'
Planetary Sciences
Odds plummet that asteroid will hit Earth in 2032

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Bubbles that break rules: A fluid discovery that defies logic
General Physics
First dark matter search using WINERED spectrograph sets new lifetime constraints
Archaeology
Starfish sites: The secret war effort of British aerial bombing decoys
Condensed Matter
Research illuminates the path to superior electro-optic performance in aluminum scandium nitride alloys
Polymers
From scraps to sips: Biomass-based hydrogel pulls drinking water from thin air
Cell & Microbiology
Automatic cell analysis: AI-powered software 'segments anything' in microscopy images
Plants & Animals
Mutualistic interaction between caterpillars and ants is highly specific, study shows
Earth Sciences
Competing effects of global warming and sea surface temperature explain recent strengthening of the Walker circulation
Bio & Medicine
Nanoparticles deliver microRNAs to muscle stem cells for potential muscular dystrophy treatment
Environment
Mixed-species forests outperform monocultures in carbon storage, even in extreme weather
Earth Sciences
Giant ice bulldozers: How ancient glaciers helped life evolve
Archaeology
Archaeologists reveal the enigmatic burial practices of the Southern Jê
Earth Sciences
Seismometers reveal Earth's longest-runout undersea sediment flows in unprecedented detail
Evolution
Humans have the earliest jawed fish to thank for their flexible joints, study suggests
Environment
Long-term costs of global warming: Weaker ocean circulation could cost trillions
Nanophysics
Material's 'incipient ferroelectricity' could jumpstart fast, low-power electronics
Earth Sciences
Colorado Plateau's dramatic canyons: How rivers' ancient pauses and rapid cuts shaped them
Cell & Microbiology
Designing self-destructing bacteria to make effective tuberculosis vaccines
Nanophysics
Mesoporous silicon: Etching technique reveals unique electronic transport properties
Optics & Photonics
A completely new type of microscopy based on quantum sensors

What would actual scientific study of UAPs look like?

For those who missed the memo, UFOs (unidentified flying objects) are now called UAPs (unidentified aerospace-undersea phenomena). The term UFO became so closely tied to alien spacecraft and fantastical abduction stories ...

Jupiter's moon Callisto is very likely an ocean world

More pocked with craters than any other object in our solar system, Jupiter's outermost and second-biggest Galilean moon, Callisto, appears geologically unremarkable. In the 1990s, however, NASA's Galileo spacecraft captured ...

What would happen if a tiny black hole passed through your body?

In 1974, science fiction author Larry Niven wrote a murder mystery with an interesting premise: Could you kill a man with a tiny black hole? I won't spoil the story, though I'm willing to bet most people would argue the answer ...

Mission accomplished for space telescope Gaia

The space telescope Gaia has created the largest three-dimensional map of the Milky Way ever. On January 15, 2025, Gaia shut down after 11 years in space. But the research on data Gaia collected will continue for many years ...

Why we think Theia existed

The giant-impact hypothesis posits that billions of years ago a Mars-sized body named Theia collided with the early Earth.

A new theory explains how water first arrived on Earth

When Earth first formed, it was too hot to retain ice. This means all the water on our planet must have originated from extraterrestrial sources. Studies of ancient terrestrial rocks suggest liquid water existed on Earth ...