Space

Nov 20th, 2025 - Follow Earth on Google Our solar system appears to be moving through the universe far faster than standard cosmology says it should. A new study of radio galaxies by a team in Germany suggests the solar system's motion leaves a stronger mark on the sky than theory predicts. Instead of quietly confirming the standard picture, the result deepens a long running mystery about how evenly matter is spread across the cosmos. If it holds up, the mismatch hints that either our cosmic models or our vast ... [Read More]

Nov 20th, 2025 - Reading time 3 minutes Around 100 million years after the formation of the solar system, a Mars-sized object dubbed Theia slammed into the Earth and created the Moon. We now have a better idea as to where this wayward object came from. In a study published today in the journal Science, researchers investigated the isotopic fingerprints —the ratio of isotopes, or versions, of elements in a material—of iron in rocks from the Moon, Earth, and meteorites (meteoroids that reach the ... [Read More]

Nov 20th, 2025 - Nov. 20 (UPI) -- NASA released images of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS flying past Mars and, based on the agency's observations, scientists expressed doubt that it is an alien spaceship. Space agencies globally have shifted satellites, telescopes and myriad other sensors and tools to monitor the comet, which has beguiled space scientists and the public alike with every move it has made on its trip through the solar system. Over the last 4 1/2 months, in addition to watching the comet rocket ... [Read More]

Nov 19th, 2025 - Follow Earth on Google Astronomers have taken a fresh look at NGC 6789, an isolated dwarf galaxy located about 12 million light-years away in the constellation Draco. What they found is a fascinating mystery. Over the past 600 million years, this dwarf has been steadily forging new stars despite living inside the Local Void – one of the emptiest neighborhoods in our cosmic vicinity. Star formation needs gas, yet the void is famously short on it. Even stranger, deep imaging now suggests ... [Read More]

Nov 19th, 2025 - When astronomers search for planets that could host liquid water on their surface, they start by looking at a star's habitable zone . Water is a key ingredient for life , and on a planet too close to its star, water on its surface may "boil"; too far, and it could freeze. This zone marks the region in between. But being in this sweet spot doesn't automatically mean a planet is hospitable to life. Other factors, like whether a planet is geologically active or has processes that regulate gases in ... [Read More]

Nov 19th, 2025 - Reading time 3 minutes The Webb telescope has unlocked a mystery in an exotic star system located approximately 8,000 light-years from Earth. Using its mid-infrared observation capabilities, the space telescope captured the first image of four swirling spirals of dust encircling two aging stars locked together in an orbital dance. NASA released the image on Wednesday, confirming the existence of the layered shells of dust surrounding two Wolf-Rayet stars in the Apep system. Previous ... [Read More]

Nov 19th, 2025 - You can now listen to Fox News articles! NASA's Perseverance rover may have stumbled on a visitor from outer space – a strange, shiny rock on Mars that scientists think could be a meteorite forged in the heart of an ancient asteroid. According to a new blog post on the rover's mission page, the rock – nicknamed "Phippsaksla" – stood out from the flat, broken terrain around it, prompting NASA scientists to take a closer look. Tests revealed high levels of iron and nickel, the ... [Read More]

Nov 19th, 2025 - A newly discovered cluster of objects called the "inner kernel" of the Kuiper belt could teach us about the early history of the solar system – including the movement of Neptune The Kuiper belt, a disc of icy rocks on the outermost edges of the solar system, seems to have more structure than we thought. In 2011, researchers found a cluster of objects there on similar orbits that they dubbed the "kernel" of the Kuiper belt – now, another team has spotted an even more compact cluster ... [Read More]

Nov 19th, 2025 - 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. Scientists have traced the origins of the most massive black hole merger ever observed, revealing how two "impossible" giants may have formed despite long-standing assumptions that such objects should not exist. These black holes were considered "forbidden" because stars of that size were ... [Read More]

Nov 17th, 2025 - The first reports of comet 3I/ATLAS were made on July 1, 2025, by the ATLAS (Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System) telescope in Chile. This comet caught the world's attention since it was the third interstellar visitor to the solar system in recorded history. Lately, it's been generating buzz for seeming to accelerate quickly near the sun, emitting a distinctive blue color, leading some to speculate it is an alien spacecraft lighting up its engines. There may be another explanation ... [Read More]

Nov 17th, 2025 - Follow Earth on Google Astronomers have spotted nickel gas streaming from comet 3I/ATLAS, an interstellar object, a body from outside our solar system, while it was still far from the Sun. In a new study, researchers used the Very Large Telescope in Chile to catch the signal earlier than ever for an interstellar visitor. The same campaign confirmed something else unusual. NASA's Webb telescope found that the comet's gas cloud is unusually rich in carbon dioxide compared with water, a chemical ... [Read More]

Nov 17th, 2025 - An international team led by researchers from the University of Cologne has solved the mystery of an extraordinary phenomenon known as the "Diamond Ring" in the star-forming region Cygnus X, a huge, ring-shaped structure made of gas and dust that resembles a glowing diamond ring. In similar structures, the formations are not flat but spherical in shape. How this special shape came about was previously unknown. The results have been under the title "The Diamond Ring in Cygnus X: an advanced ... [Read More]

Nov 17th, 2025 - A new analysis of old Cassini data has also verified past detections of complex organics in Saturn's E ring, strengthening the chemical ties between the ring and its progenitor. In 2008, NASA's now-departed Cassini spacecraft made its fastest flyby of Enceladus, the moon of Saturn that's spewing its subsurface ocean into space. A new analysis of data from that flyby has revealed a bevy of complex organic compounds that hadn't been detected before and confirmed the origin of several previously ... [Read More]

Nov 17th, 2025 - Follow Earth on Google Earth has picked up a new traveling companion – an asteroid named 2025 PN7 that now moves through space in step with us. This tiny quasi moon, only about 62 feet (19 meters) wide, follows an orbit so similar to Earth's that it will linger nearby for nearly six decades, staying with us until around 2083. The discovery comes from sky surveys that scan the same patches of sky each night, searching for faint, slow-moving objects that reveal themselves only through ... [Read More]

Nov 17th, 2025 - New data challenge a foundational idea in cosmology: the accelerating universe. In the late 1990s, two rival teams of astronomers discovered that the universe was expanding faster and faster. It was a stunning conclusion based on the dimming light of distant supernovae . This led to the idea of a mysterious force that counteracts gravity, dubbed dark energy . It was a major breakthrough that reshaped our understanding of cosmology and earned a Nobel Prize in 2011 . But now, a new study from ... [Read More]

Nov 16th, 2025 - 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. QUICK FACTS What it is: Barred spiral galaxy Messier 61, AKA NGC 4303 Where it is: 55 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo When it was shared: Oct. 28, 2025 Even before its full science operations have begun, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile has already helped astronomers ... [Read More]