The Large Magellanic Cloud Survived its Closest Approach to the Milky Way
The Large Magellanic Cloud is the closest, brightest dwarf galaxy to the Milky Way—20 times bigger than the full Moon…
The New Mars Landing Approach: How We’ll Land Large Payloads on the Red Planet
Back in 2007, I talked with Rob Manning, engineer extraordinaire at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and he told me something…
Three More “Galactic Monster” Ultra-Massive Galaxies Found
One of the surprise findings with the James Webb Space Telescope is the discovery of massive galaxies in the early…
James Webb Confirms Hubble’s Calculation of Hubble’s Constant
We have been spoiled over recent years with first the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and then the James Webb Space…
What Should Light Sails Be Made Out Of?
The Breakthrough Starshot program aims to cross the immense distances to the nearest star in just decades. Using a high-powered…
A Giant Meteorite Impact 3.26 Billion Years Ago Helped Push Life Forward
The Earth has always been bombarded with rocks from space. It’s true to say though that there were more rocks…
America’s Particle Physics Plan Spans the Globe — and the Cosmos
RALEIGH, N.C. — Particle physicist Hitoshi Murayama admits that he used to worry about being known as the "most hated…
Millions of Phones Could Map the Earth’s Ionosphere
We are all familiar with the atmosphere of the Earth and part of this, the ionosphere, is a layer of…
Detecting Primordial Black Hole Mergers Might be Within Our Grasp
One explanation for dark matter is that it's made out of primordial black holes, formed in the earliest moments of…
What’s Behind the Martian Methane Mystery?
The seasonal variations of methane in the Martian atmosphere is an intriguing clue that there might be life hiding under…