Linking Organic Molecules to Hydrothermal Vents on Enceladus
Despite the vast distance between us and Saturn's gleaming moon Enceladus, the icy ocean moon is a prime target in…
A Star Became 1,000 Times Brighter, and Now Astronomers Know Why
Astronomers were surprised in 1937 when a star in a binary pair suddenly brightened by 1,000 times. The pair is…
New Answers for Mars’ Methane Mystery
Planetary scientists perk up whenever methane is mentioned. Methane is produced by living things on Earth, so it's considered to…
Three of the Oldest Stars in the Universe Found Circling the Milky Way
Mention the Milky Way and most people will visualise a great big spiral galaxy billions of years old. It’s thought…
A Rotating Spacecraft Would Solve So Many Problems in Spaceflight
If you watch astronauts in space then you will know how they seem to float around their spaceship. Spaceships in…
White Dwarfs are Often Polluted With Heavier Elements. Now We Know Why
When stars exhaust their hydrogen fuel at the end of their main sequence phase, they undergo core collapse and shed…
Saturn-Sized Exoplanet Isn’t Losing Mass Quickly Enough
We have discovered over 5,000 planets around other star systems. Amongst the veritable cosmic menagerie of exoplanets, it seems there…
Gravitational Lenses Could Pin Down Black Hole Mergers with Unprecedented Accuracy
Gravitational wave astronomy has been one of the hottest new types of astronomy ever since the LIGO consortium officially detected…
TRAPPIST-1 Outer Planets Likely Have Water
The TRAPPIST-1 solar system generated a swell of interest when it was observed several years ago. In 2016, astronomers using the Transiting…
Perseverance Wraps Up Over 1,000 Days on Mars. Still Going Strong
I can remember when Perseverance was launched, travelled out into the Solar System and landed on Mars in February 2021. …