Space

Apr 19th, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google Researchers have found that Earth's gravity will actively reshape the asteroid Apophis during its 2029 flyby, altering its spin and disturbing its surface in measurable ways. That close pass turns a once-feared object into a rare chance to watch an asteroid physically change as it moves through a powerful gravitational field. A rare encounter with Earth On April 13, 2029, the 1,230-foot asteroid called Apophis will pass within about 20,000 miles of Earth, entering a zone ... [Read More]

Apr 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 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 19th, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google A new study has found that interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS, a rare icy object that came from outside our Solar System, carried far less carbon dioxide relative to water after passing the Sun. Earlier observations had suggested a much higher CO2 content. The discovery recasts the comet as a layered object whose outer surface and deeper interior do not release the same material. The comet's shifting chemistry On January 7, 2026, the gas cloud around 3I/ATLAS showed a different ... [Read More]

Apr 19th, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google Uranus's faint outer ring is made of water-ice grains shed by a 7.5-mile-wide moon, while the ring beside it comes from rockier debris. That split gives Uranus two neighboring rings with sharply different origins. This confirms evidence of active change around the planet. Hidden composition of the rings Far from Uranus's bright main rings, the faint μ and ν rings preserve contrast in the material circling the planet. Imke de Pater at the University of California, ... [Read More]

Apr 18th, 2026 - Follow Earth on Google A new analysis has revealed that water once moved through a small asteroid called Bennu in narrow channels, carving its material into three sharply separated chemical zones. That hidden pattern helps explain how fragile carbon-based material survived in some pockets while minerals formed in others, preserving a more detailed record of Bennu's past. Reading the nanometer scale Inside the Bennu fragment called OREX-800066-3, certain boundaries appear at an almost ... [Read More]

Apr 17th, 2026 - The Universe is a jaw-droppingly beautiful place. It contains stunning planets sporting surfaces painted with vivid brushstrokes, dying and dead stars that light up the cosmos with rainbows of different colours, and galaxies that pirouette around one another, pulling long and intricate strands far out into space. But it's what we can't see that's far more important. There would be no structure in the Universe without the scaffolding upon which entire galaxies are built. The stars, gas and dust ... [Read More]

Apr 17th, 2026 - A supermassive black hole binary system (two black holes orbiting each other) has been directly identified in the final stages of orbital decay in all of astronomy. These two supermassive black holes (each boasting a combined mass ranging from 100 million to 1 billion solar masses, the mass of the Sun) are located at the centre of the galaxy Markarian 501, which is about 450 million light-years away from us. They are locked in a tightly bound binary orbit and could complete their merger within ... [Read More]

Apr 17th, 2026 - Volcanic ash is creeping across the surface of Mars with startling speed. The European Space Agency's (ESA's) Mars Express mission just released a stunning orbital image showing surprising changes within Mars's Utopia Planitia basin, which is thought to be the site of a now vanished sea. Captured by Mars Express's High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC), the image shows two abutting landscapes of light and darkness, the former made from Mars's modern-day rusted sands and the latter colored by ... [Read More]

Apr 17th, 2026 - Reading time 3 minutes Gravity is so weird that it essentially forces cosmologists into subscribing to one of two equally radical conclusions: dark matter exists, or fundamental gravity rules need massive revisions. To settle this debate, scientists embarked on the largest investigation of gravity to date, finding that old physics wisdom held strong for the most puzzling observations. In a study published this week in Physical Review Letters , an international team of astronomers tested cosmic ... [Read More]

Apr 17th, 2026 - Even at a glance, the planets in our solar system are wildly diverse. Huge and small, airless and densely packed with atmosphere, they have a wide range of characteristics distinguishing them. But if I was backed into a corner, which one would I choose as the oddest of them all? Easy: Venus is the weirdest planet in the solar system. There's a reason we call it Earth's evil twin. For reasons that are still unclear, long ago it suffered a massive runaway greenhouse effect, filling its atmosphere ... [Read More]

Apr 17th, 2026 - It's speculative, but it's an exciting idea. New research suggests that relic black holes from before the big bang may still shape galaxies today. These black holes could explain dark matter, one of the biggest unsolved questions in cosmology. Generally speaking, black holes are regions of spacetime where matter is compressed into a tiny space. Dark matter , meanwhile, is matter that does not reflect or absorb light. We know it exists because of its gravitational influence on galaxies and other ... [Read More]

Apr 17th, 2026 - Sky This Week is brought to you in part by Celestron. Friday, April 17 New Moon occurs at 7:52 A.M. EDT. Spring is often called galaxy season and with no Moon in tonight's sky, it's a perfect time to view some distant neighbors. Tonight, we're targeting M104, the famous Sombrero Galaxy, which lies near the border of Virgo and Corvus. It's readily visible in any small scope.  Wait until a few hours after sunset, as the region rises higher in the east. Around 11 P.M. local daylight time, ... [Read More]

Apr 16th, 2026 - The race to Shackleton Crater is on—will Jeff Bezos or China get there first? US and Chinese landers could be operating in close proximity on the Moon later this year. Later this year, two spacecraft are scheduled for launch on missions to land somewhere near the rim of Shackleton Crater , an impact basin near the Moon's south pole harboring an immense reservoir of water ice. The two landers will arguably be the most ambitious robotic missions ever sent to the Moon. The Endurance  ... [Read More]

Apr 15th, 2026 - Studying the star, called SDSS J0715-7334, could give astronomers insights into how the universe's first stars were formed In the exurbs of the Milky Way, near a satellite galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud, researchers have discovered the most metal-poor, chemically primitive star ever found, according to new research from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Findings from the survey are published in the journal Nature Astronomy . Composed primarily of hydrogen and helium and containing less ... [Read More]

Apr 15th, 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. A comprehensive new study combines decades of research to reveal that we're missing an essential component in our understanding of how the universe works. Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Join the conversation Add us as a preferred source on Google Sign up for the Live Science ... [Read More]

Apr 15th, 2026 - A 17th-century astronomer's blunder just solved a fierce debate about the Sun's magnetic history. In 1607, Johannes Kepler projected an image of the Sun onto a piece of paper and spotted a dark smudge. He thought he was watching the planet Mercury cross our star. He was wrong. Without realizing it, Kepler had sketched a massive sunspot, the oldest known sunspot image, predating instrumental observations of the Sun. By analyzing that mislabeled sketch, astrophysicists have finally constrained ... [Read More]