Space

Dec 28th, 2025 - Follow Earth on Google For decades, scientists thought dust helped aging stars push gas into space – but a nearby star shows that may not be true. Astronomers closely examined the material flowing from R Doradus, a Sun-like star in its late-life asymptotic giant branch phase. Few stars at this stage of life are close enough to be examined carefully, which is why researchers focused on this one. R. Doradus is located 180 light-years – or about 1.1 quadrillion miles – away. The ... [Read More]

Dec 28th, 2025 - Far smaller and closer to the Sun than it should be, Mercury has long baffled astronomers because it defies much of what we know about planet formation. A new space mission arriving in 2026 might solve the mystery. At a cursory glance, Mercury might well be the Solar System's dullest planet. Its barren surface has few notable features, there is no evidence of water in its past and the planet's wispy atmosphere is tenuous at best. The likelihood of life being found amidst its scotched craters is ... [Read More]

Dec 28th, 2025 - CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The moon and sun share top billing in 2026. Kicking off the year's cosmic wonders is the moon, drawing the first astronauts to visit in more than 50 years as well as a caravan of robotic lunar landers including Jeff Bezos' new supersized Blue Moon. A supermoon looms on Jan. 3 and an astronomical blue moon is on the books for May. The sun will also generate buzz with a ring-of-fire eclipse at the bottom of the world in February and a total solar eclipse at the ... [Read More]

Dec 28th, 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. Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Flipboard Join the conversation Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter QUICK FACTS What it is: Reflection nebula NGC 1333 and binary star system SVS 13 Where it is: 1,000 light-years away in the constellation Perseus When it was ... [Read More]

Dec 28th, 2025 - Follow Earth on Google Galaxies do not grow alone. Over billions of years, smaller galaxies move closer, pull on one another, and slowly merge. During such encounters, giant black holes at galactic centers often wake up and begin feeding. Astronomers have now confirmed a rare and powerful example of such growth: a system where three galaxies merge while three supermassive black holes feed at the same time and shine in radio light. Known as J1218 1219+1035, such a system offers a clear view into ... [Read More]

Dec 27th, 2025 - Whether it's giant war-mongering spaceships, green humanoid Martians, or creepy beings slithering across uncharted planets, science fiction has painted a very particular image when it comes to aliens. But while you might think it takes a tin-foil-wearing conspiracy theorist to believe in such life outside of Earth, many highly distinguished scientists are believers too. In fact, when surveyed, 86.6 per cent of astrobiologists recently said they either agreed or strongly agreed that ... [Read More]

Dec 27th, 2025 - Follow Earth on Google Astronomers just discovered the oldest supernova to date. Named GRB 250314A, this ancient star exploded at a time when the universe was still finding its footing. Not long after the first galaxies lit up the dark, something massive collapsed, exploded, and sent its light racing across space for billions of years until it finally reached us. That light didn't arrive in a neat, simple package. It appeared first as a short, violent burst, then later as a slower, swelling ... [Read More]

Dec 27th, 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. Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Flipboard Join the conversation Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter The sun is the biggest object in the solar system ; at about 865,000 miles (1.4 million kilometers) across , it's more than 100 times wider than Earth. ... [Read More]

Dec 27th, 2025 - Follow Earth on Google Astronomers have found a compact new cluster of objects inside the Kuiper belt, which is a distant band of icy bodies at the edge of our solar system beyond Neptune. The cluster sits 4.0 billion miles from the Sun, about 43 astronomical units. The work was led by Amir Siraj, a doctoral student in astrophysics at Princeton University in New Jersey. His research focuses on how outer solar system orbits store clues about planets that moved long ago. In their analysis, the ... [Read More]

Dec 26th, 2025 - By studying rare meteorites, scientists are uncovering which asteroids might someday fuel humanity's expansion into space. Scientists are assessing the makeup of carbon-rich asteroids to see whether they could one day fuel space exploration—or even be mined for valuable resources. For long duration missions to the Moon and Mars, using materials found in space could significantly reduce the need for supplies launched from Earth. However, improved identification and classification is ... [Read More]

Dec 26th, 2025 - Sky This Week is brought to you in part by Celestron. Friday, December 26 The Moon passes 4° north of Saturn at 11 P.M. EST, right as the pair is setting along the U.S. East Coast. It's better to observe them earlier in the evening — they are more than 40° high in the southwest around 7 P.M. local time.  The waxing Moon lies to the upper right of Saturn, sandwiched between the giant planet and the Circlet of Pisces. While the Moon itself is in the constellation Pisces, Saturn ... [Read More]

Dec 26th, 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. From Orion and Taurus to Auriga and Perseus, here are 10 easy sets of stars to find in the Northern Hemisphere's winter night sky. Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Flipboard Join the conversation Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter On a clear winter night, ... [Read More]

Dec 26th, 2025 - As a science communicator, I don't think a week goes by without a press release hitting my inbox informing me of astronomers finding some new record-breaking object. Sometimes it's the smallest planet yet discovered or the most iron-deficient star. But a very common claim is a distance record: the farthest galaxy from Earth ever seen, for example. When it comes to these sorts of record breakers, I have complicated feelings, built over decades of writing about them. Such announcements must be ... [Read More]

Dec 24th, 2025 - Astronomers love a challenge. They place their observatories on the highest mountains , in the driest deserts, on the coldest ice shelves, beneath the deepest oceans, in orbit around Earth and the Sun , and at the farthest-flung outposts of the Solar System . But now, they're planning to build telescopes on the far side of the Moon. These instruments will probe one of the last unexplored windows on the Universe. Here, astronomers hope to get a glimpse of the elusive Cosmic Dawn , the moment ... [Read More]

Dec 24th, 2025 - A star is born out of a giant cloud of gas and dust collapsing under its own gravity. As gravity pulls the gassy material inwards, some material is left swirling around the star. Over time, the momentum of the spinning material flattens it into the shape of a pizza-like disk, often called a protoplanetary disk. If all this makes it look like it's just a giant cookie of gassy debris, then you're incorrect. These celestial disks don't just offer a cradle for the star to be born, but also become ... [Read More]

Dec 24th, 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. Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Flipboard Join the conversation Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter A distant exoplanet appears to sport a sooty atmosphere that is confusing the scientists who recently spotted it. The Jupiter-size world, detected by the ... [Read More]