This unusual orbit has not been seen before by any other exoplanet or planet within our own solar system
Deep Space
Deep Space
Deep Space
Ancient white dwarf explosions live on in the stellar memory
The chemical composition of certain stars gives clues about their predecessors, stars that have long since exploded and faded
Deep Space
Streams of cool gas spiral into young galaxies to fuel the birth of stars
Astronomers have long sought-after finer details of this cosmic web to explain the incredible rate of star formation
Space Exploration
Interplanetary pitstop: Using comets for breathable oxygen replenishment
Comets are a valuable source of breathable oxygen in the vast vacuum of space, and astronomers want to utilise that for future human space exploration
Space Exploration
Heroes of Space: Frank J Malina
The rocketeer who laid the foundations for the space program
Solar System
New models explain how planets are formed from gas and dust
By simulating the movement of dust as it moves through gas shows how larger clumps of material form, eventually leading to the formation of planets
Solar System
Why is Pluto no longer a planet?
What is it about Pluto that made astronomers – such as the likes of Dr Mike Brown, Professor of Planetary Astronomy at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) – insist on its declassification?
Space Exploration
InSight Lander spreads its solar wings
NASA’s InSight lander has passed a key test as it gets closer to its launch date
Space Exploration
NASA gets stuck into building its next Mars rover
In just a few years, one of the space agency’s next big missions will be flying to the Red Planet
Solar System
NASA’s new algorithm to conserve Curiosity’s wheels
The rough terrain of the Red Planet has produced problems for the Mars rover, but a new algorithm can now help reduce the effect
Space Exploration
NASA’s NuSTAR achieves its fifth year in space
To commemorate NuSTAR’s first five years in space, the principal investigator, Fiona Harrison, has chosen her five favourite images of the mission
Deep Space
LIGO detects gravitational waves for the third time
This is the most distant gravitational wave source detected yet
Deep Space
Rosetta’s comet produces breathable oxygen
A Caltech scientist has just figured out how gaseous oxygen is produced on Comet 67P, based on data collected by Rosetta’s Philae lander in 2014
News
Discovery of new gas on Mars provides more evidence for habitability
Boron has been identified for the first time on the surface of the Red Planet, indicating the potential for long-term habitable groundwater in the ancient past
News
High-speed instrument to hunt for Kuiper Belt objects
Astronomers are busy tinkering with a high-tech instrument that could discover a variety of objects both far from Earth and closer to home
News
BREAKING: Gravitational waves detected for the very first time
The finding confirms a major prediction of Albert Einstein’s 1915 general theory of relativity and opens an unprecedented new window to the universe
News
Supermassive black hole’s relativistic spin rate measured for the first time
Two X-ray space observatories have teamed up to make the first measurement of a supermassive black hole’s spin.