Something Big Is Twisting Mercury’s Crust
Mercury has it rough. Not only is it the smallest planet in the solar system, it’s also the closest to our Sun. This unfortunate position has caused Mercury to develop…
Astronomers Spot Cataclysmic Collision of Giant Asteroids in Nearby Star System
Nearly 20 years ago, astronomers observed a massive cloud of fine dust particles around a young star located just 63 light-years away from Earth. In recent observations from the Webb…
Interstellar Space Clouds Triggered the Ice Ages, Research Suggests
The Pleistocene Epoch—with its glaciers, woolly mammoths, and Neanderthals—still looms large in Earth’s rearview mirror, having ended a mere 12,000 years ago. Now, a team of researchers posit that those…
NASA Releases Catalog Packed With the Most Bizarre Alien Worlds
Do we live in an unusual star system? Astronomers have been trying to figure out if the Solar System is unique compared to other stars and their orbiting planets, and…
Life Under Three Suns: The Real Physics Behind Netflix’s 3 Body Problem
By now, I’m assuming that we’ve made our way through all eight episodes of the Netflix adaptation of Liu Cixin’s The 3 Body Problem (and by we, I mean sci-fi…
New Moons Discovered Around Uranus and Neptune
Astronomers found a new moon orbiting Uranus, as well as two around Neptune. The tiny satellites appeared as faint specks in the outer reaches of the solar system following hours…
Unusually Big Sunspot Cluster Now Visible, Posing Risk of Powerful Solar Flares
A striking set of gigantic sunspots, first spotted from Mars and now designated AR3576, is currently facing Earth, capturing the attention of astronomers, space enthusiasts, and concerned space weather forecasters.…
Webb Telescope Finds What May Be a Glowing Aurora on a Failed Star
The Webb Space Telescope has spotted something weird: a brown dwarf with what appear to be aurorae, what we Earthlings sometimes call the Northern Lights. What makes the observation particularly…
Something Unearthly Could Switch Train Signals From Red to Green
Some train track circuits are at the mercy of distant storms on the Sun’s surface, researchers found, which could cause train signals to jump from red to green and vice…
Will Saturn’s Rings Really ‘Disappear’ by 2025?
If you can get your hands on a telescope, there are few sights more spectacular than the magnificent ringed planet – Saturn. What Inspired Dominic Monaghan’s Performance in Moriarty? Off…