Space Exploration News – Latest Headlines

New theory finds upcoming satellite mission will be able to detect more than expected

The upcoming satellite experiment LiteBIRD is expected to probe the physics of the very early Universe if the primordial inflation happened at high energies. But now, scientists show it can also test inflationary scenarios operating at lower energies.

January 12, 2022 Read more

From dust to planet: how gas giants form

Astrophysicists have developed computer simulations that simultaneously use multiple types of celestial matter to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how these colossal planets grow from tiny specks of dust.

January 12, 2022 Read more

Hunting for dead stars

What they become afterwards depends on how big they were at birth - in other words the mass that they had when they were formed.

January 11, 2022 Read more

Astronomers identify potential clue to reinonization of universe

Astronomers have identified a potential clue to how the universe became reionized after the Big Bang. The researchers identified a black hole, a million times as bright as our sun, that may have been similar to the sources that powered the universe's reionization.

January 10, 2022 Read more

Eccentric exoplanet discovered

Astronomers discovered a sub-Neptune exoplanet orbiting a red dwarf star.

January 8, 2022 Read more

How scientists are 'looking' inside asteroids

Devoid of geological and atmospheric processes, asteroids provide a window onto the evolution of the solar system. But to really understand their secrets, scientists must know what's inside them.

January 7, 2022 Read more

Scientists contemplate launching tiny lifeforms into interstellar space

No longer solely in the realm of science fiction, the possibility of interstellar travel has appeared, tantalizingly, on the horizon.

January 6, 2022 Read more

Resolving the black hole 'fuzzball or wormhole' debate

Study adds more certainty to theory involving information paradox.

January 4, 2022 Read more

Researchers capture high-frequency oscillations in the gigantic eruption of a neutron star

An international scientific group has managed to measure for the first time oscillations in the brightness of a neutron star during its most violent moments. In just a tenth of a second, the magnetar released energy equivalent to that produced by the Sun in 100,000 years.

December 27, 2021 Read more

Billions of starless planets haunt dark cloud cradles

In Lovecraftian horror, the Universe is filled with 'dark planets' ungraced by the light of a host star. New research shows that reality might be even scarier. An international team of astronomers has found about 100 planets floating freely in space rather than orbiting stars.

December 22, 2021 Read more

Tracking down the forces that shaped our Solar System's evolution

Meteorites are remnants of the building blocks that formed Earth and the other planets orbiting our Sun. Recent analysis of their isotopic makeup led settles a longstanding debate about the geochemical evolution of our Solar System and our home planet.

December 22, 2021 Read more

Astronomers capture black hole eruption spanning 16 times the full Moon in the sky

Astronomers have produced the most comprehensive image of radio emission from the nearest actively feeding supermassive black hole to Earth. The emission is powered by a central black hole in the galaxy Centaurus A, about 12 million light years away.

December 22, 2021 Read more

Could acid-neutralizing life-forms make habitable pockets in Venus' clouds?

A new study shows it's theoretically possible. The hypothesis could be tested soon with proposed Venus-bound missions.

December 21, 2021 Read more

Engineers test an idea for a new hovering rover

A levitating vehicle might someday explore the moon, asteroids, and other airless planetary surfaces.

December 21, 2021 Read more

Are black holes and dark matter the same?

Proposing an alternative model for how the universe came to be, a team of astrophysicists suggests that all black holes - from those as tiny as a pin head to those covering billions of miles - were created instantly after the Big Bang and account for all dark matter.

December 20, 2021 Read more

Unveiling substructures at the edge of the Galaxy

An international team of astronomers has revealed a new map of the Milky Way's outer disc showing remains of tidal arms excited from interactions with satellite galaxies in the distant past.

December 17, 2021 Read more

Scientists predict the rotation periods of stars

A new study features a method of deriving the rotation periods of stars from just one observation of the stellar activity rather than repeated observations over several weeks which are needed to directly measure the rotation period. The method has possible implications for the determination of the ages of stars.

December 16, 2021 Read more

Spacecraft enters the Sun's corona for the first time in history

A spacecraft launched by NASA has done what was once thought impossible. On April 28, the Parker Solar Probe successfully entered the corona of the Sun - an extreme environment that's roughly 1.1 million degrees C.

December 14, 2021 Read more