Earth's Place in the Universe
- Planets
Jupiter has a never-before-seen jet stream — and it’s speedy
Spotted in images from the James Webb telescope, the high-altitude current may help untangle the workings of the giant planet’s atmosphere.
- Space
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft brought back bits of the asteroid Bennu
Dirt from the asteroid Bennu could hold clues about the material that built our solar system — and possibly where life comes from.
- Physics
A new tool shows tiny changes in the ’24-hour’ length of a day
An underground instrument known as ‘G’ uses laser beams to measure Earth’s rotation — a gauge of day length — with extreme precision.
- Planets
Analyze This: Neptune’s cloud cover syncs up with the solar cycle
Telescope observations hint how sunlight-driven chemistry may boost cloud cover on our solar system’s farthest planet.
- Planets
In a first, astronomers spot the aftermath of an exoplanet smashup
Infrared light from a distant star appears to be leftovers of an impact between a pair of Neptune-sized worlds.
- Space
You can get involved in science during the 2024 solar eclipse
The sun will be near the peak of its activity cycle during the eclipse on April 8, 2024. That will make it a great time to crowdsource solar research.
- Space
Weird black holes may reveal secrets of the early universe
Emerging evidence points to the existence of rogue black holes and other cosmic oddities — such as big black holes in tiny galaxies.
- Space
Experiment: A puzzling parallax helps stargazers
In this project, we explore how perspective, or parallax, can be used to measure the distances to objects such as stars.
- Space
Ghost particles paint a new picture of the Milky Way
Scientists tracked neutrinos from space to create a new map of our galaxy. It’s the first image of the Milky Way to be made without light.
- Space
Scientists Say: Pulsar
These rapidly spinning dead stars send beams of radio waves into space like cosmic lighthouses.
- Space
Newfound gravitational waves may be from the biggest black holes in the universe
Observations of dead stars hint that ripples in spacetime — ripples light-years long — roll through our universe.
- Space
Lightning dances through Jupiter’s skies much like it does on Earth
Data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft hint that Jupiter’s lightning extends in jagged steps as it does on Earth.
