Space

Mar 21st, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google Bennu, a near-Earth asteroid, had been studied for years using powerful telescopes. From a distance, it seemed fairly simple. Researchers expected a mix of rocks and smoother areas, maybe even patches of loose sand. That expectation didn't last long. When NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft arrived at Bennu in 2018, the surface told a very different story. Instead of smooth, easy-to-sample terrain, the asteroid looked rough and chaotic. Huge boulders covered nearly every inch. ... [Read More]

Mar 20th, 2026 - It's "common knowledge"—and the scare quotes should be a warning—that the sun is an average star. But it's not, and in fact it's not even close: The sun is in the top 90th percentile of stars by mass. That's because well more than half of the universe's stars are tiny, cool red dwarfs, dim bulbs with half to less than 10 percent of the sun's mass. The lower limit is around 7 to 8 percent of the sun's mass; any less than that, and there isn't enough pressure in the core to sustain ... [Read More]

Mar 20th, 2026 - Reading time 3 minutes A pair of spacecraft has been flying in formation, creating an artificial solar eclipse to help scientists probe the elusive outermost part of the Sun's atmosphere. For the past month, however, one of the spacecraft has been silent after suffering an in-flight anomaly, leaving its partner hanging. But now, the probe has finally phoned home and may be ready to resume operations soon. The European Space Agency's (ESA) Proba-3 mission recently reestablished connection with ... [Read More]

Mar 20th, 2026 - Sky This Week is brought to you in part by Celestron. Friday, March 20 The vernal equinox occurs at 10:46 A.M. EDT, bringing astronomical spring to the Northern Hemisphere as the Sun stands directly over Earth's equator. On this day, the Sun also sits at the celestial equator as its path takes it from south to north of this invisible line. Meteorological spring, which is measured differently, began March 1. The equinox is well known as the date when night and day are equal lengths. But you may ... [Read More]

Mar 20th, 2026 - There may be a river delta hidden under the obvious delta in a Martian crater. When NASA's Perseverance rover landed in Jezero Crater in 2021, its primary mission was to scour the remnants of a dried-up Martian lakebed for signs of ancient life. Scientists have been focused on the crater's spectacular Western Delta, a fan-shaped geologic feature deposited by a river flowing into the basin billions of years ago. But now Perseverance's ground-penetrating radar (called RIMFAX) detected what is ... [Read More]

Mar 20th, 2026 - Astronomers have found a 710-metre-wide asteroid that spins once every 1.9 minutes, so fast that it should have spun itself apart The Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile has spotted the fastest-rotating large asteroid ever seen. Despite measuring more than half a kilometre across, this asteroid spins about once every 1.9 minutes – a speed once thought to be impossible. Dmitrii Vavilov at the University of Washington in Seattle and his colleagues found this asteroid, along with several ... [Read More]

Mar 19th, 2026 - Reading time 3 minutes In humanity's search for life beyond Earth, astronomers have identified more than 6,000 planets that lie outside the solar system. From that long list of worlds of different shapes and sizes, a team of researchers has come up with a list of potential candidates most likely to host alien life. A new study published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society lists 45 rocky worlds that orbit within a habitable zone, making them more likely to have an essential ... [Read More]

Mar 19th, 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. Astronomers have detected strange "wobbles" in the light curve of a super bright supernova, hinting that a magnetar was born inside the extreme stellar explosion. Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Join the conversation Add us as a preferred source on Google Get the Live Science ... [Read More]

Mar 19th, 2026 - Reading time 3 minutes In November 2025, a comet began disintegrating into pieces after a heated close encounter with the Sun. In a twist of fate, the Hubble space telescope happened to be observing the comet as it broke apart, capturing its demise in a series of images. "Sometimes the best science happens by accident," John Noonan, a research professor in the Department of Physics at Auburn University in Alabama and co-investigator of the event, said in a statement . "This comet got observed ... [Read More]

Mar 19th, 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 18th, 2026 - The Earth is under assault. Space rocks are constantly hurtling toward us, slamming into the atmosphere and often exploding into fireballs that both delight and alarm. Thankfully, the vast majority cause no damage because they are pulverized into dust or small chunks by the journey to Earth. A fireball streaked across the sky near Cleveland this week , caused by what was thought to be a space rock nearly 6 feet (1.8 meters) across and weighing 7 tons. It was seen from Wisconsin to Maryland, ... [Read More]

Mar 18th, 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 18th, 2026 - When Apollo 11 astronauts returned to Earth after accomplishing history's first-ever crewed moon landing, they brought back nearly 50 pounds of moon dust and rocks. Researchers who initially analyzed the material's parched composition came to an important (and flawed) conclusion: the moon was bone dry. Undeterred, in all the decades since, some scientists kept up the search for lunar water , ultimately finding traces of it in samples returned by other moon missions. Hints of a potentially ... [Read More]

Mar 17th, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google When a black hole and a neutron star spiral toward collision, theory predicts that their orbit should become almost perfectly circular before the final impact. Gravitational waves steadily drain energy from the system, tightening the orbit and smoothing out any stretched shape along the way. By the time the objects finally merge, astronomers usually expect to see a clean circular path. But one recent event broke that pattern. In the gravitational-wave signal GW200105, ... [Read More]

Mar 17th, 2026 - This giant space explosion lasted 1000 times longer than normal and researchers are racing to find out why. Gamma-ray bursts are the universe's ultimate flash in the pan. In a fraction of a second, they can violently release more energy than our Sun will emit over its entire ten-billion-year lifespan. Normally, these extreme flashes vanish almost as soon as they appear. They are one-and-done events. But on July 2, 2025, the cosmos delivered something that completely shattered our expectations. ... [Read More]

Mar 17th, 2026 - The levels of a heavy form of hydrogen in 3I/ATLAS are 30 to 40 times higher than in Earth's oceans, suggesting the comet has a cold and distant origin The interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS contains water and carbon molecules at levels never before seen in our solar system. This suggests that it formed around an alien star radically different from and much older than the sun. Astronomers have been tracking 3I/ATLAS since it entered our solar system last year – and it is weird. It appears to be ... [Read More]