A Planet Lost Its Atmosphere, So Its Volcanoes Made It a New One
A red-dwarf star called Gliese 1132 or GJ 1132 for short (astronomers and their fun nicknames!) smolders on some 41…
The Giant Magellan Telescope’s 6th Mirror has Just Been Cast. One More to Go
Work has begun on the sixth and seventh mirror segments for the Giant Magellan Telescope, which will begin studying the…
China and Russia Will Be Partners in a Lunar Research Station
There are many paths to the Moon, and not all of them go through the Lunar Gateway. This week, the…
Alcubierre Gives us an Update on his Ideas About Warp Drives
A new look at warp drive fuels hope that it might be possible after all.
Measuring the Temperatures of Red Giants is Actually Pretty Tricky
Red giant stars are, well, red and giant. But astronomers have always had difficulty estimating their temperatures, due to their…
Comets Already Grow a Coma out in the Kuiper Belt
Just when do comets get their signature coma? Conventional wisdom says it only happens when they get close enough to…
The Oldest Stars Help Tell us how big the Universe is
Astronomers are struggling to understand the discrepancies when measuring the expansion rate of the universe with different methods, and are…
Microbes Found That Survive on the by-Products of Radioactive Decay
An oceanic research team recently demonstrated that one of the largest ecosystem on Earth thrives on the radioactive decay of…
Organic Material Found on an Asteroid Sample Returned by Hayabusa 1
Panspermia is an idea that has been around for a long time. It was first mentioned in the 5th century…
Vega Might Have a Planet
Vega is one of the brightest and best known stars in the night (or even twilight) sky. Located in the…