Could dark matter not matter?

You probably want to put on your skeptical goggles and set them to maximum for this one. An Italian mathematician has come up with some complex formulae that can, with remarkable similarity, mimic the rotation curves of spiral ...

Two exoplanets orbiting a sun-like star discovered

An international team of astronomers reports the detection of two new exoplanets orbiting an evolved sun-like star known as HD 137496. The newly found extrasolar worlds, identified using NASA's Kepler spacecraft, were classified ...

What if Earth stopped orbiting the sun?

In a previous article I investigated what would happen if the Earth stopped turning entirely, either locking to the sun or the background stars.

50 new exoplanets discovered by HARPS

Astronomers using ESO's world-leading exoplanet hunter HARPS have today announced a rich haul of more than 50 new exoplanets, including 16 super-Earths, one of which orbits at the edge of the habitable zone of its star. By ...

Four new giant planets detected around giant stars

(Phys.org)—An international team of astronomers reports the discovery of four new giant exoplanets orbiting stars much bigger than our sun. The newly detected alien worlds are enormous, with masses from 2.4 to 5.5 the mass ...

Astronomers find a planet that shouldn't exist

When our sun reaches the end of its life, it will expand to 100 times its current size, enveloping the Earth. Many planets in other solar systems face a similar doom as their host stars grow old. But not all hope is lost, ...

Newly discovered giant planet slingshots around its star

Astronomers have discovered a planet three times the mass of Jupiter that travels on a long, egg-shaped path around its star. If this planet were somehow placed into our own solar system, it would swing from within our asteroid ...

NASA kicked asteroid off course in test to save Earth

NASA on Tuesday celebrated exceeding expectations during a mission to deflect a distant asteroid, in a sci-fi like test of humanity's ability to stop an incoming cosmic object from devastating life on Earth.

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