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Life 'not as we know it' possible on Saturn's moon Titan
Taking a simultaneously imaginative and rigidly scientific view, Cornell chemical engineers and astronomers offer a template for life that could thrive in a harsh, cold world - specifically Titan, the giant moon of Saturn.
February 27, 2015 Read more
Curiosity confirms the existence of methane in Mars' atmosphere
An article published this week confirms the existence of methane fluctuations in the atmosphere of Mars, as a result of the detailed analysis of data sent during 605 soles or Martian days.
February 27, 2015 Read more
New insight found in black hole collisions
New research by an astrophysicist provides revelations about the most energetic event in the universe - the merging of two spinning, orbiting black holes into a much larger black hole.
February 26, 2015 Read more
Looking deeply into the universe in 3-D
The MUSE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope has given astronomers the best ever three-dimensional view of the deep Universe. After staring at the Hubble Deep Field South region for only 27 hours, the new observations reveal the distances, motions and other properties of far more galaxies than ever before in this tiny piece of the sky. They also go beyond Hubble and reveal previously invisible objects.
February 26, 2015 Read more
Astronomers find impossibly large black hole
Astronomers have found a huge black hole which was powering the brightest object in the early universe. The black hole's mass is 12 billion solar masses, and the surrounding quasar pumped out 10^15 times the sun's energy.
February 25, 2015 Read more
Physicists offer a solution to the puzzle of the origin of matter in the universe
Most of the laws of nature treat particles and antiparticles equally, but stars and planets are made of particles, or matter, and not antiparticles, or antimatter. That asymmetry, which favors matter to a very small degree, has puzzled scientists for many years. New research offers a possible solution to the mystery of the origin of matter in the universe.
February 25, 2015 Read more
Two Google Lunar Xprize teams announce rideshare partnership for mission to the Moon In 2016
HAKUTO, the only Japanese team competing for the $30 million Google Lunar XPRIZE, has announced a contract with fellow competitor, Astrobotic, based in Pittsburgh, Pa., to carry a pair of rovers to the moon.
February 23, 2015 Read more
Giving shape to black holes' intense winds
By looking at the speed of ambient gas spewing out from a well-known quasar, astronomers are gaining insight into how black holes and their host galaxies might have evolved at the same time.
February 20, 2015 Read more
NASA's MAVEN spacecraft completes first deep dip campaign
NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution has completed the first of five deep-dip maneuvers designed to gather measurements closer to the lower end of the Martian upper atmosphere.
February 20, 2015 Read more
A new view of the solar system: Astrophysical jets driven by the sun
The magnetic field of the sun plays a crucial role in shaping the heliosphere - the domain of the sun - by accelerating the solar wind into a pair of jets.
February 19, 2015 Read more
Classical nova explosions are major lithium factories in the Universe
Lithium is a key element in the strudy of the chemical evolution of the universe because it likely was and is produced in several ways: through Big Bang nucleosynthesis, in collisions between energetic cosmic rays and the interstellar medium, inside stellar interiors, and as a result of novae and supernova explosions.
February 19, 2015 Read more
For the first time, spacecraft catch a solar shockwave in the act
Solar storm found to produce 'ultrarelativistic, killer electrons' in 60 seconds.
February 18, 2015 Read more
Laser 'ruler' holds promise for hunting exoplanets (w/video)
A team of researchers have successfully demonstrated how a solar telescope can be combined with a piece of technology that has already taken the physics world by storm - the laser frequency comb (LFC).
February 18, 2015 Read more
The highest plume ever observed on Mars
Researchers are studying images of a mysterious bulge that rose up more than 200 km from the surface.
February 18, 2015 Read more
Dark matter guides growth of supermassive black holes
A new study of football-shaped collections of stars called elliptical galaxies provides new insights into the connection between a galaxy and its black hole. It finds that the invisible hand of dark matter somehow influences black hole growth.
February 18, 2015 Read more
The strange case of the missing dwarf
New SPHERE instrument shows its power.
February 18, 2015 Read more
A close call of 0.8 light years
Astronomers identify the closest known flyby of a star to our solar system: A dim star that passed through the Oort Cloud 70,000 years ago.
February 17, 2015 Read more
With new data, Planck satellite brings early universe into focus
One of the project leaders offers insight into the latest data release from the Planck space telescope.
February 17, 2015 Read more