Science
Some Quasars Shine With the Light of Over a Trillion Stars
Quasars are some of the brightest objects in the Universe. The brightest ones are so luminous they outshine a trillion…
Planet Sizes Matter for Habitability Too.
In order to be considered habitable, a planet needs to have liquid water. Cells, the smallest unit of life, need…
This is What Moondust Looks Like When You Remove All the Oxygen. A Pile of Metal
The Moon has abundant oxygen and minerals, things that are indispensable to any space-faring civilization. The problem is they're locked…
Power Grids and Satellites Are More at Risk from Extreme Solar Storms Than We Thought
Exactly how dangerous are solar storms? Scientists think the Carrington Event was one of the most powerful ones to ever…
China’s Lander Successfully Grew Some Cotton Plants on the Moon. Fruit Flies and Potatoes Didn’t Fare So Well
When China's Chang'e-4 spacecraft landed on the lunar far side on January 3rd 2019, it made history. It was the…
A Red Dwarf Star Has a Jupiter-Like Planet. So Massive it Shouldn’t Exist, and Yet, There It Is
Thanks to the Kepler mission and other efforts to find exoplanets, we've learned a lot about the exoplanet population. We…
Mice That Spend a Month in Space Were Able to Reproduce Once They Got Back to Earth
A team of Japanese researchers have used sperm from mice that spent time aboard the International Space Station (ISS) to…
Planet Mars, From Pole to Pole
A new image from the ESA's Mars Express Orbiter shows exactly how different regions in Mars are from one another.…
Elliptical Galaxy Messier 110 Has a Surprising Core of Hot Blue Stars
Messier 110 (NGC 205) is a satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy. It's a dwarf elliptical galaxy, a common type of…
Io’s Largest Volcano, Loki, Erupts Every 500 Days. Any Day Now, It’ll Erupt Again.
Jupiter's moon Io is in stark contrast to the other three Galilean moons. While Callisto, Ganymede, and Europa all appear…