Space Exploration News – Latest Headlines

Looking for dark matter with the universe's coldest material

Our current understanding of cosmology and nuclear physics suggests that dark matter could be made of axions, hypothetical particles with unusual symmetry properties. Scientists report on how to search for axions using the unique properties of Bose-Einstein condensates.

May 1, 2020 Read more

Astronomers could spot life signs orbiting long-dead stars

The next generation of powerful Earth- and space-based telescopes will be able to hunt distant solar systems for evidence of life on Earth-like exoplanets - particularly those that chaperone burned-out stars known as white dwarfs.

April 30, 2020 Read more

Gravitational waves could prove the existence of the quark-gluon plasma

Computer models of merging neutron stars predicts how to tell when this happens.

April 30, 2020 Read more

Astronomers capture rare images of planet-forming disks around stars

An international team of astronomers has captured fifteen images of the inner rims of planet-forming disks located hundreds of light years away. The images shed new light on how planetary systems are formed.

April 30, 2020 Read more

4-billion-year-old nitrogen-containing organic molecules discovered in Martian meteorites

Using advanced techniques, scientists have detected organic compounds containing nitrogen in Martian meteorites which were ejected from Mars' surface some 15 million years ago, proving that evidence for early life can be preserved and detected today.

April 29, 2020 Read more

The weight of the Universe

Cosmologists have gained new insights into the density and structure of matter in the Universe.

April 28, 2020 Read more

'Elegant' solution reveals how the universe got its structure

A direct, observation-based test of one of the pillars of cosmology.

April 27, 2020 Read more

Hubble celebrates its 30th anniversary with a tapestry of blazing starbirth

To commemorate three decades of scientific discoveries, this image is one of the most photogenic examples of the many turbulent stellar nurseries the telescope has observed during its 30-year lifetime.

April 24, 2020 Read more

Researchers use 'hot Jupiter' data to mine exoplanet chemistry

After spotting a curious pattern in scientific papers - they described exoplanets as being cooler than expected - astronomers have improved a mathematical model to accurately gauge the temperatures of planets from solar systems hundreds of light-years away.

April 24, 2020 Read more

New high-energy-density physics research provides insights about the universe

Understanding how atoms react under high-pressure conditions - a field known as high-energy-density physics - gives scientists valuable insights into the fields of planetary science, astrophysics, fusion energy, and national security.

April 24, 2020 Read more

Asteroid visiting Earth's neighborhood brings its own face mask

The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico is following an asteroid approaching Earth this week and while it poses no threat, it appears to know our planet is facing a pandemic.

April 23, 2020 Read more

First-ever comprehensive geologic map of the moon released

For the first time, the entire lunar surface has been completely mapped and uniformly classified. The lunar map, called the 'Unified Geologic Map of the Moon', will serve as the definitive blueprint of the moon's surface geology for future human missions and will be invaluable for the international scientific community, educators and the public-at-large.

April 23, 2020 Read more

Hungry galaxies grow fat on the flesh of their neighbours

Modelling shows big galaxies get bigger by merging with smaller ones.

April 22, 2020 Read more

Exoplanet apparently disappears in latest Hubble observations

What astronomers thought was a planet beyond our solar system, has now seemingly vanished from sight. Astronomers now suggest that a full-grown planet never existed in the first place.

April 22, 2020 Read more

Studying the galaxy's 'water worlds'

In seeking to learn more about Neptune-like exoplanets, an international team of researchers has provided one of the first mineralogy lab studies for water-rich exoplanets.

April 22, 2020 Read more

Milky Way could be catapulting stars into its outer halo

Findings may change fundamental thinking about star system formation, dynamics.

April 20, 2020 Read more

Astronomers see star dance around supermassive black hole, proving Einstein right

Observations have revealed for the first time that a star orbiting the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way moves just as predicted by Einstein's general theory of relativity. Its orbit is shaped like a rosette and not like an ellipse as predicted by Newton's theory of gravity.

April 16, 2020 Read more

Strongest evidence yet that neutrinos explain how the universe exists

New data throws more support behind the theory that neutrinos are the reason the universe is dominated by matter.

April 15, 2020 Read more