Space

Apr 3rd, 2026 - Our planet is under a constant bombardment of radiation— from space . Well, maybe it's not as scary as that makes it seem. "Radiation" is a catchall term astronomers use for forms of light—including visible light, the kind we see—and also for subatomic particles sleeting through space. We don't normally think of such particles as "rays"—cosmic rays, to be precise—but we still use that nomenclature because of lingo inertia . Some cosmic rays come from the sun, some ... [Read More]

Apr 3rd, 2026 - An incredibly powerful flash of X-rays spotted by the Einstein Probe telescope appears to be a kind of explosion first theorised more than 30 years ago Astronomers think they have seen a type of explosion produced by a dying star called a dirty fireball for the first time, and it could help us understand how massive stars die. When a massive star runs out of fuel, it can collapse and explode in several ways. If a black hole is produced in the collapse, an extremely powerful jet of radiation can ... [Read More]

Apr 3rd, 2026 - Sky This Week is brought to you in part by Celestron. Friday, April 3 Mercury reaches greatest western elongation at 7 P.M. EDT this evening, standing 28° from the Sun. However, the planet is only currently visible in the predawn sky. You can catch it in the east shortly before sunrise either this morning or tomorrow morning. It's low, though — only about 4° high half an hour before sunrise — so you'll need a clear horizon to spot it. Getting to an observing site slightly ... [Read More]

Apr 3rd, 2026 - Reading time 2 minutes The Vera C. Rubin Observatory isn't even a year old, but it's already giving astronomers (arguably pleasant) insomnia with its constant spam of cosmic discoveries. And its latest batch of alerts brings a literal ocean of asteroids. In a statement yesterday, Rubin scientists announced the observatory's "largest asteroid haul yet" that delivered over 11,000 new asteroids. Rubin also captured more than 80,000 known asteroids, "including some that had previously been observed ... [Read More]

Apr 3rd, 2026 - astronauts may catch a comet—if it can survive the sun The cosmos may have a special treat in store for the four astronauts of NASA's mission. NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen will be the first humans to see the far side of the moon with their own eyes since the Apollo era when they fly past our companion over the course of a few hours on Monday . But they may also catch sight of a remarkable comet out the ... [Read More]

Apr 2nd, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google Saturn looks calm from a distance. A pale giant with rings, sitting quietly in space. But its surroundings tell a different story. The space around the planet is busy, charged, and constantly shifting. New research shows that Saturn's magnetic shield, the invisible barrier that protects it from solar radiation, doesn't sit evenly around the planet the way Earth's does. Instead, it leans. Not dramatically, but enough to matter. A magnetic bubble with a twist Every planet ... [Read More]

Apr 2nd, 2026 - From lava lakes to orbital swaps, moons are the universe's true rebels. We used to think moons were the boring sidekicks of the solar system. For decades, we treated them like cosmic leftovers — cold, dead rocks that did nothing but tag along with their parent planets. We were wrong. In the past years, we've found that moons can be every bit as exciting as their host planets. They host liquid oceans, erupting volcanoes of ice, and weather patterns that make Earth look tame. A moon is the ... [Read More]

Apr 2nd, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google Scientists have identified roughly 3,500 potential cases of gravitational lensing, where massive foreground galaxies bend and magnify light from more distant sources. Nearly all of a tested sample were confirmed as genuine systems. The result converts a vast set of suspected distortions into a reliable foundation for probing dark matter and measuring cosmic expansion. Hubble checks the list Across 51 high-resolution images, bright foreground galaxies consistently bent and ... [Read More]

Apr 1st, 2026 - At 6:35 p.m. EDT, the Artemis 2 mission successfully lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, marking the first time humans have headed to the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. The crew is "safe, they're secure and they're in great spirits," said NASA administrator Jared Isaacman in a post-launch press conference on Wednesday evening. The craft is currently in a high Earth orbit, where it will perform check-out tests for the next day. The next major milestone for the mission will ... [Read More]

Apr 1st, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google Scientists have identified a fast-moving star as the surviving companion of a massive star that exploded, linking both objects to the same violent event. That connection turns a scattered remnant and an isolated star into a single reconstructed system, showing how the explosion unfolded and what it left behind. Supernova IC 443 star HD 254577 At the edge of IC 443, a supernova remnant about 5,500 light-years away, a hot, massive star called HD 254577 was captured racing ... [Read More]

Apr 1st, 2026 - Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... The Artemis II mission countdown timeline ahead of launch from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-B and the planned mission timeline for its 10-day flight that will venture past the moon and return to Earth with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Read live updates from launch day Timelines featuring L- equate to the launch time in real time while T- equates to the countdown clock, which features built-in holds. Countdown milestones as planned for ... [Read More]

Apr 1st, 2026 - NASA rovers have revealed fascinating details and close-up images of Mars and the moon, but exploring other planets is slow. Most rovers are remotely controlled from Earth, and their careful, energy-efficient design limits how much ground they can cover. Now,  new research  from the University of Basel, ETH Zurich, and the European Space Agency, published Tuesday in the journal Frontiers in Space Technologies, examines how robots that can "think" for themselves might help us search a ... [Read More]

Apr 1st, 2026 - This could explain how planets like Neptune form to begin with. Most planets in our solar system are tilted. Earth's 23-degree tilt gives us our seasons, while Mars sits at just over 25 degrees. Then you have the overachievers: Uranus is essentially lying on its side, and Venus is flipped completely upside down. Usually, these tilts are the scars of ancient, violent collisions. But Neptune is different. According to a new study, Neptune's 28-degree axial tilt wasn't caused by a massive impact. ... [Read More]

Apr 1st, 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 Sign up for the Live Science daily newsletter now Get the world's most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox. By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & ... [Read More]

Apr 1st, 2026 - LIGO data hints at supernovae so powerful they leave nothing behind Pair instability supernovae create a "mass gap" in black holes. Many of the early exoplanet discoveries were exciting on their own, confirming that there really were strange new worlds out in the Universe. But over time, our focus has shifted more toward numbers, as we began using the frequency of objects like super-Earths and mini-Neptunes to learn more about how planets form. With four gravitational wave detectors now having ... [Read More]

Apr 1st, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google Researchers have identified 13 previously hidden symbiotic stars in data from Gaia, the European Space Agency's space telescope that maps stars across the Milky Way, confirming that a missing stellar population was there all along.  Their discovery begins to close one of the field's most persistent gaps between prediction and observation, and redirects the search for what remains unseen. Where the clues hid Inside Gaia's catalog of 12.4 million variable sources, 649 ... [Read More]