Space

Mar 10th, 2026 - Is this where China's astronauts will land on the moon? In the two-way race between the U.S. and China to put humans back on the moon, the lunar south pole is widely considered the most prized place to land. The area is relatively resource-rich, pocked with dark craters that harbor water ice and have near constant exposure to sunlight around their respective rims—both desirable features for lunar bases. The South Pole–Aitken Basin—the moon's largest and oldest impact ... [Read More]

Mar 10th, 2026 - The latest search for life on the headline – making exoplanet K2-18 b has come up empty. But the team says that they have developed a framework that could shape how scientists hunt for extraterrestrial life for years to come. In a study posted to the arXiv preprint server and accepted for publication by The Astrophysical Journal , researchers conducted one of the broadest and most sensitive technosignature searches ever in the K2-18 planetary system. Technosignatures are observable signs ... [Read More]

Mar 10th, 2026 - A rapidly brightening burst of light called AT 2024wpp, or "the Whippet", is baffling astronomers. One explanation is that it is the result of an exotic star falling into a black hole A sudden, mysterious burst of bright light in the sky could be from a black hole devouring a vast, unusually bare star. In 2018, astronomers spotted a new kind of cosmic explosion that became brighter more quickly than any other. The flash, called AT2018cow or "the Cow" for short, took only a few days to reach its ... [Read More]

Mar 10th, 2026 - The lasers alone would cost around one trillion dollars and the technology to create a nanocraft does not yet exist. A new paper sketches a daring plan: launch a wafer-sized spacecraft toward the nearest black hole and let it report back on the most extreme physics in the cosmos. The author, astrophysicist Cosimo Bambi of Fudan University, places the idea "somewhere between hard engineering and science fiction," yet he also anchors it to a timeline. The hardware might be ready in twenty to ... [Read More]

Mar 10th, 2026 - Wandelt studies the connection between data and theory to unlock the secrets of the universe Benjamin Wandelt, a pioneer at the intersection of cosmology, statistics, and artificial intelligence, is transforming how we extract fundamental physics from astronomical data. Driven by a deep curiosity about the origins and structure of the universe and a passion for developing the computational tools needed to unlock its secrets, Wandelt studies the fundamental physics of the universe using a ... [Read More]

Mar 10th, 2026 - Billions of light years away in a remote part of the universe, two neutron stars – the ultradense remnants of dead stars – collided. The catastropic cosmic event sent light and particles, including a sudden flash of gamma rays , streaming through the universe. These gamma rays traveled for 8.5 billion years before reaching Earth. In a new study , our team of astrophysicists examined this gamma-ray signal. We learned that the stellar collision it came from was likely caused by an ... [Read More]

Mar 10th, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google Our Sun may seem like the center of the universe to us, but it's actually on the move, orbiting the Milky Way galaxy at a speed of nearly half a million miles per hour. That's fast, but it's nothing compared to a recently discovered star runaway that's blazing a trail across the cosmos. This stellar speedster, known as CWISE J124909+362116.0 (J1249+36 for short), is a low-mass star, or L subdwarf, that's not only hypervelocity but potentially on a trajectory to escape the ... [Read More]

Mar 10th, 2026 - Sixty-six light-years away, an Earth-sized exoplanet completes an orbit in under six hours, skimming around its star at nearly one-hundredth the distance that Mercury orbits the Sun. This planet is on the edge of destruction.  Astronomer Fei Dai of the University of Hawai'i Institute for Astronomy and his team combined data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and Keck Planet Finder (KPF) to officially verify the world, called TOI-6255 b, as an exoplanet. The find enables ... [Read More]

Mar 9th, 2026 - Reading time 3 minutes Scientists hunting for radio signals from any form of advanced extraterrestrial life that might be out there trying to contact us are now starting to wonder if something has been messing with their work. A new study published by researchers at the SETI Institute, short for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, has tested the possibility that "space weather" could render strong premeditated alien broadcasts into the kind of fainter radio signals that SETI typically ... [Read More]

Mar 9th, 2026 - Space 5 min read In 2022, a NASA spacecraft intentionally barreled into the tiny asteroid Dimorphos during a planetary defense test. The objective was to assess whether humanity could protect Earth from cosmic threats, such as space rocks. New observations now reveal that the planetary defense test was a success, altering the orbit of Dimorphos as well as that of a larger asteroid called Didymos. Dimorphos and Didymos are a binary pair, meaning that the asteroids orbit one another while also ... [Read More]

Mar 9th, 2026 - A dying star's final breath creates a haunting, brain-shaped cosmic silhouette. The universe has a dark sense of humor. Five thousand light-years away, in the constellation Vela, a star is dying in the most cinematic way. It's almost like it's stripping its flesh, flinging its outer layers into the void to create a glowing curiosity. To the human eye (which tends to see patterns in random things), it almost looks like a brain seen through a transparent skull. Astronomers officially call it ... [Read More]

Mar 8th, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google Jupiter's aurora is larger, stronger, and far more constant than Earth's northern lights. Scientists have now discovered something unexpected within that glowing chaos: a sharp cold patch and dramatic swings in density high above the giant planet. The surprise came from close study of two bright marks tied to Jupiter's moons Io and Europa . These marks, called auroral footprints, form when the moons interact with Jupiter's huge magnetic field and send charged particles ... [Read More]

Mar 7th, 2026 - It's quick and easy to access Live Science Plus, simply enter your email below. We'll send you a confirmation and sign you up for our daily newsletter, keeping you up to date with the latest science news. Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Join the conversation Add us as a preferred source on Google Get the Live Science Newsletter Get the world's most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox. By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and ... [Read More]

Mar 6th, 2026 - Sky This Week is brought to you in part by Celestron. Friday, March 6 With no Moon in the early-evening sky, let's chase down a classic deep-sky object tonight: M1, the first entry in Charles Messier's list of "not comets" and also known as the Crab Nebula.  This smudge of gas and dust left over from a massive star's supernova blast is located just 1.1° northwest of 3rd-magnitude Zeta (ζ) Tauri, the southernmost of Taurus the Bull's two horns. It's more than 60° above the ... [Read More]

Mar 6th, 2026 - A newly spotted galaxy drags star-studded tentacles through a cosmic headwind billions of years ago. Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have discovered a rare jellyfish galaxy 8.5 billion light-years from Earth, offering a pristine look at how cosmic environments violently shut down star formation. Officially named COSMOS2020-635829, this distant system challenges established timelines by proving that ancient galaxy clusters were already hostile enough to choke off star formation ... [Read More]

Mar 5th, 2026 - Of all the asteroids that have imperiled the planet, 2024 YR4 is unparalleled. Soon after it was spotted in December 2024, worldwide telescopic observations quickly positioned it as the most dangerous space rock ever discovered —one that stood a 3.1-percent (or 1-in-32) chance of crashing into Earth on December 22, 2032. If it were to hit one of the cities potentially in its path, this 60-meter asteroid would have unleashed a force comparable to several atomic bombs, devastating the ... [Read More]