Detecting ultralight dark matter particles using supermassive black holes
Is it time to start looking for alternatives to WIMPs? For almost a century, astrophysicists...
Io may have an underworld magma ocean or a hot metal heart
CHICAGO — An entire ocean of liquid magma, or maybe a hot heart of solid...
Crushed space rocks hint at exoplanets’ early atmospheric makeup
Burning bits of ground-up meteorites may tell scientists what exoplanets’ early atmospheres are made of....
Spacey ‘super puffs’ are changing our understanding of how planets form
An artistic rendering of WASP-107b orbiting in front of its star (ESA/Hubble, NASA, M. Kornmesser/)When...
First magnetar flare detected from another galaxy tracked to its home
For the first time, astronomers have definitively spotted a flaring magnetar in another galaxy. These...
The most ancient supermassive black hole is bafflingly big
The most ancient black hole ever discovered is so big it defies explanation. This active...
The Parker Solar Probe will have company on its next pass by the sun
The Parker Solar Probe is no stranger to the sun. On January 17, the NASA...
A guide to the solar system’s biggest secrets
What comes after Pluto? (Sara Chodosh/)Astronomers have spent centuries filling in their sketches of our...
Designing an airplane that can fly on Mars!
Until recently, no attempt has been made to fly an aircraft in the Martian atmosphere....
Here are the highlights from a busy year in space launches
So many things launched into space this year: Six humans traveled aboard commercial crew vehicles,...