4.6 billion years ago, our solar system formed from a collection of gas and dust surrounding our nascent sun. While much of the gas and dust in this protoplanetary disk coalesced to form the planets, some of the debris was ...
Space Exploration
Sep 10, 2015
0
26
There's an awkward, irksome problem with our understanding of nature's laws which physicists have been trying to explain for decades. It's about electromagnetism, the law of how atoms and light interact, which explains everything ...
General Physics
Nov 11, 2022
2
356
There are three ways to look for evidence of alien technological civilizations. One is to look out for deliberate attempts by them to communicate their existence, for example, through radio broadcasts. Another is to look ...
Astronomy
May 25, 2024
34
1136
What are asteroids made of? Asteroids are made mostly of rock—with some composed of clay and silicate—and different metals, mostly nickel and iron. But other materials have been found in asteroids, as well.
Space Exploration
Sep 14, 2015
0
29
Water makes up 71% of Earth's surface, but no one knows how or when such massive quantities of water arrived on Earth.
Planetary Sciences
Mar 15, 2023
7
975
In the early solar system, a "protoplanetary disk" of dust and gas rotated around the sun and eventually coalesced into the planets we know today.
Astronomy
Oct 15, 2021
2
5825
Stunned scientists announced Wednesday the unexpected discovery of large quantities of oxygen on a comet which streaked past the Sun in August with a European spacecraft in tow.
Space Exploration
Oct 28, 2015
103
5248
A new theory published today in the Astrophysical Journal Letters by scientists from Harvard University suggests that the sun may once have had a binary companion of similar mass. If confirmed, the presence of an early stellar ...
Astronomy
Aug 18, 2020
1
464
Elizabeth Turtle was overjoyed when, on June 26, she received a call from NASA: her project to send a drone quadcopter to Titan, Saturn's largest moon, was given the green light, which came with a budget of nearly a billion ...
Space Exploration
Jul 4, 2019
7
1
If a solar system is a family, then some planets leave home early whether they want to or not. Once they've left the gravitational embrace of their family, they're pretty much destined to drift through interstellar space ...
Astronomy
Oct 2, 2020
9
744
