Video: Proba-2 watches Mercury transit

ESA's Proba-2 had a ring-side seat for the transit of Mercury on 11 November 2019. Proba-2 monitors the sun from Earth orbit and was able to spot Mercury's transit as a small black disc—seen here moving from left to right ...

The lunar cycle drives the nightjar's migration

GPS tracking data reveals that the foraging activity of the European nightjar more than doubles during moon-lit nights, and the birds then migrate simultaneously about 10 days after the full moon, according to a study published ...

Toward an 'orrery' for quantum gauge theory

Physicists at ETH Zurich have developed a new approach to couple quantized gauge fields to ultracold matter. The method might be the basis for a versatile platform to tackle problems ranging from condensed-matter to high-energy ...

Japan's Hayabusa2 probe makes 'perfect' touchdown on asteroid

Japan's Hayabusa2 probe made a "perfect" touchdown Thursday on a distant asteroid, collecting samples from beneath the surface in an unprecedented mission that could shed light on the origins of the solar system.

Gaia's asteroid discoveries

Animated view of more than 14 000 asteroids in our Solar System from the catalogue in the second data release of ESA's Gaia satellite, published in 2018.

Name an exoplanet

In recent years, astronomers have discovered thousands of planets and planetary systems orbiting around nearby stars. Some are small and rocky like the Earth, whilst others are gas giants like Jupiter. It is now believed ...

Brown dwarfs are formed in the same way as sun-like stars

Astronomers have discovered a so-called proto-disc around the proto-brown dwarf Mayrit. With this discovery, they were able to confirm for the first time that this celestial body was formed in the same way as sun-like stars.

Gaia's first asteroid discoveries

While scanning the sky to chart a billion stars in our Milky Way galaxy, ESA's Gaia satellite is also sensitive to celestial bodies closer to home, and regularly observes asteroids in our solar system.

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